


Burn It Down

by TheSoundOfThunderstorms



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Original Character(s), Promise, a story of revenge and following dumb decisions, hold on for the ride, it's fun, los muertos and talon au, los muertos family dynamics, sombra centric, we'll get to the burning things down part later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-06 08:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13407327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSoundOfThunderstorms/pseuds/TheSoundOfThunderstorms
Summary: A boring assignment suddenly gets interesting when you add bullets to the mix.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to metalwarrior22 for reading this over and certifying that the Spanish is good.

Energetic sounds emitted from the tablet in Sombra’s hands. For the past three hours, she was sitting on the roof of one of the old LumériCo buildings doing recon. Rumor was that there was some group trying to take up roots in Los Muertos territory. Sombra had the elegant task of keeping watch, to report back on what she found. She was bored out of her mind.

Sombra sighed as she got a new high score on Watermelon Smash. Of course, she was cheating, but it was still better than staring at abandoned buildings all day. “Boss lady’s gonna kill me with this boring shit.” She put down her tablet and picked up the packet of pan dulce she was saving. It smelled so good when she opened it.

As she took bites from her delicious snack, Sombra casually picked up the pair of binoculars hanging off her neck to actually try and take her job more seriously. “And let’s see here…” Her words trailed off as she went to take another bite. “Broken window, check.” She uncrossed her legs, bringing them up to rest under her chin. “Cracked walls, check.” Before she could make a remark about the weird mold pattern growing on one of the buildings, she spit out her bite of bread, clutching her side at the searing pain.

“Maldita sea-” Sombra rolled out of the way before the next shot hit. Her tablet was at the tip of her fingers. Inching them along, she managed to grab it. With a quick input of a string of numbers, the screen turned purple for a moment before fading to black. She tossed the useless husk over the side of the roof like a frisbee.

“I swear if I die here…” It was getting hard for her to breath, beads of sweat rolled down her forehead as the pain in her side seared through her body. It was like someone stabbed her with a hot knife. Careful to stay hidden, Sombra started to drag herself to the door to the roof. She was in no condition to pull her usual stunts of jumping off the side.

It was like whoever was shooting at her was playing games. By all rights, she should have been dead, but the bullets never quite hit their mark. Most of them scraped past her, a few of them landing right where she was going to be. Sombra wasn’t a fan of this game.

By the good graces of her attacker, Sombra finally reached the door, basically tumbling down the stairs in her effort to get to the first floor. She navigated through the dark building, tripping over steps in a pain filled haze. When she got to the last step on the first floor, she didn’t have the strength to go any further. _If I die here, can’t say I won’t be pissed about it._ Sombra nearly laughed at the thought.

The creaky metal side door opened, slow footsteps echoing throughout the first floor as it shut behind them. Sombra sucked in a breath, clenching her teeth when the footsteps got closer.

“Look what we have here.” The voice sounded amused and confident. Like they were about to win some sort of game.

Sombra was seeing spots in her vision, she could barely make out the woman who was now kneeling in front of her. “Gonna have to speak a little louder, can’t see you.”

“Oh? It looks like I shot a comedian.”

The unmistakable sound of a pistol being cocked rang through Sombra’s ears. She felt the cool metal tap against her arm as a booted foot started to press into her wound. It hurt like a motherfucker.

“I can stop whenever you feel like talking.” A small chuckle escaped from the woman. “Or if I get bored, I can always end your misery quickly.” She tapped the gun against Sombra’s arm to remind her of it.

“You know…” Sombra huffed. Today really wasn’t her day. “You sound pretty hot.” She grinned when the boot pressed in tighter. The explosion of pain was worth it. “It’s not the worst way to die.” If she squinted, she could see a frown on the woman’s face.

“It sounds like you want to.”

Sombra shrugged her shoulders, sighing into the pain. “I’m not really looking forward to it. But something about dying to a beautiful woman makes it _slightly_ better.” She watched through blurry eyes as the woman made a face at her words.

“A comedian _and_ an idiot.” The woman lifted her boot off Sombra, taking a seat next to her on the last step. She put her gun away and leaned back on the stairs. “If you really want to die, I’ll keep you company.”

Somehow that was a comfort to hear. She was still going to bleed out, but at least she wouldn’t do it alone. “I bet you tell all the idiots that.” Taking the lead from her attacker, Sombra slumped back onto the stairs, curling an arm behind her head for support.

“Mm, just the one.”

The pain started to fade away. It didn’t sting as much and when Sombra blinked a few times, her vision cleared up. The faint glow from the body dye shone through the darkened room. It was reassuring to see. She turned her head to the side, wanting to get a clear picture of the woman who was so kindly waiting for her to die. And she started to laugh, because from the dim light streaming through the tinted windows, her killer really was beautiful.

“My name is Sombra.” Her laughter devolved into a fitful couch as blood trickled out of her mouth. “Well, that’s not really my name, but it’s all you’re getting.”

“Sombra.” The name rolled off elegantly as the woman spoke quietly. She seemed to be contemplating something, finally moving when it seemed like she made up her mind. Her hand reached down to her thigh pouch, pulling out a roll of bandages.

Sombra watched through drooping eyes as her attacker went to work on unrolling a length of the bandage. She squeezed her eyes in pain when the woman pulled her up into a sitting position, only being able to vaguely feel cool fingers working the bandage around the wound.

“Widowmaker. You can call me Widowmaker.” Widowmaker got to her feet and hoisted a surprised Sombra onto her back. “Today, you are a _very_ lucky idiot.”

Weak arms managed to wrap around Widomaker’s neck. Sombra rested her sweat-slicked forehead on a cool shoulder, finding relief in the nice feeling. “That’s a relief.”

She let her shooter now turned savior carry her off to wherever. If she wasn’t going to die, she wouldn’t worry about whether she should trust this stranger with her life.

-

Unfamiliar ceilings weren’t anything new. Sombra was used to waking up somewhere different every morning when she took on a job. It was an expected inconvenience of working. So, when she woke up to yet another new ceiling, it didn’t faze her as much as the IV in her arm or the woman reading in a corner.

The room felt oddly cozy. The more she looked around, the more she realized she must have been in Widowmaker’s bedroom. It was dim. The curtains were drawn closed to keep out most of the light.

Testing her range of movement, Sombra couldn’t feel the wound. A little exploration with her fingers told her that it was all stitched up. They must have given her some strong painkillers.

“Quit moving so much.”

A grin spread across her face. “I was just checking to see if I was still alive. Could have sworn I was supposed to die.”

Pale fingers simply turned the page of the book in her hands. Widowmaker didn’t even look Sombra’s way.

Sombra crossed her arms, pouting at the fact she was being ignored. “Can I have some water?” She watched as Widowmaker didn’t look away from the book, instead, she pointed to the IV bag. “You’re not being serious are you?”

“Doctor’s orders.”

A quick look around revealed that they were the only people in the room. “I don’t see any doctors.”

“He had to leave.”

“What’s to stop me from getting some water myself?”

Widowmaker reached out for her bookmark, delicately saving her place in the novel she was reading. She finally looked over to Sombra, almost smiling at how deeply she was pouting. “If you can get up, I won’t stop you from getting water.” She crossed her legs, watching with delight as Sombra attempted just that.

“Fine, I’ll get some damn water myself.” First thing she did was pull out the IV, letting out a sigh of relief when she could move her arm freely. Fluid leaked to the ground as the line dangled above it. There wasn’t much left in the IV bag so she wasn’t worried about making a big mess. Next, she shucked off the blankets that were tucked tightly around her body. Her legs felt tingly but that wasn’t going to stop her.

Tentatively, Sombra pressed some weight onto a foot. Satisfied that her legs could handle it, she stood up. A self-satisfied smirk was plastered on her face. “So, where’s the water?” Her eyes followed where Widowmaker pointed. Unfortunately for her, as soon as she took one step, Sombra fell flat on her ass. All at once, she felt dizzy and had the urge to vomit as pain shot through her system. “I’m dying.”

Widowmaker sat in her chair for a bit, watching as Sombra struggled with keeping herself composed. She wanted to laugh but thought better of it when she saw the clear pain in the other woman’s face.

She felt hands hook under her arms, hoisting her body back onto the bed. Sombra could only watch helplessly as Widowmaker meticulously covered her with the blankets again, tucking them in tight. It was a peculiar sight to see the deadly woman taking care of her. Quite frankly, she was confused. She voiced as much when cold hands gently got to work with setting up a new IV.  

“I don’t get it.” Sombra itched at the unpleasant feeling of medical tape sticking to her skin.

“You’ll have to be more specific.” Widowmaker grabbed a hand towel that was sitting on the bedside table and quickly wiped up the spilled fluids from the floor.

Frustrated fingers ran through her pink dyed mohawk. “This, all of it. One minute I’m supposed to die bleeding out next to an extraordinarily beautiful woman, who also happened to be the one to shoot me in the first place. And the next, the same woman is playing nurse and taking care of me.” After talking it out like that, everything clicked. “You want something.”

“Maybe you’re not so much of an idiot as I thought.”

Sombra shrugged, clearly not bothered by the minor insult. “Guess not. So, what is it? Money? Blackmail?” She was hoping Widowmaker would choose the latter option, she liked blackmailing people.

“Revenge.”

Such a simple word never sounded so deadly. The way the other woman’s brow creased and how her finger’s curled into an involuntary fist, Sombra could feel the weight of the word bearing down on her spine.  “You seem capable of doing that yourself.” Her mind flickered to when she got shot on the rooftop. “Very capable.”

Widowmaker laughed. It wasn’t that it was funny. It was just that reality was a bitch. “If I could do it myself, I would have left you to die. If you are who you say you are, then you’ll be able to help me.” She smoothed out a crease in the blankets before walking back to her chair and opening up her book to where she last left off. “But we can talk about that later.”

From the way Widowmaker dropped the subject so fast, Sombra could tell it was a touchy issue. So, she huffed to herself, scratching away at the tape sticking to her skin until it was sufficiently relieved. She rubbed at her eyes and finally realized that her contacts were still in. She was supposed to change them last night but she found herself preoccupied.  

“Hey um…” She saw the subtle twitch of an eyebrow, indicating that Widowmaker was listening. “Where’d you put my jacket? I kinda need it.”

“There are more blankets if you’re cold.”

“Just the sight of you is enough to keep me warm.” Sombra wore her signature smile when Widowmaker put down her book to give a sharp glare. “But besides that, I need to change my contacts. I was gonna do it last night but…you know.” Both hands pointed to the wound on her side. “Shit happens.”

It was a tense moment of Widowmaker staring at Sombra. The way the light reflected in her eyes made them seem golden. More intimidating. Sombra was very close to regretting her request when Widowmaker suddenly got up from her chair and walked towards the wardrobe in the room to pull out the jacket.

The jacket was placed neatly in her lap, Sombra smiled in appreciation. “Thanks.” It didn’t take long for her to find her contact case. Unfortunately, when she opened it, it was empty. She rubbed at the smooth skin on the side of her head in surprise. “I could have sworn I put new ones in here.” Shrugging her shoulders, she reached into another pocket to pull out plan B. “Guess I’ll have to wear these.”

In her hand was a sugar skull bedazzled glasses case. Sombra flipped it open and took hold of the rectangular plastics frames. She got to work taking out the purple contacts, placing them back in the empty case. “Might wanna look away, I’m pretty irresistible when I’m wearing these.”

Widowmaker just crossed her arms, a reluctant crease in her brow telling the injured woman that she wasn’t buying it.

“Okay.” Sombra shrugged. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” As soon as she put on her glasses Widowmaker’s face didn’t change. That was very disheartening. “Nothing? Come on, I look cute as hell!” Sombra looked away from the woman. She tried her best not to fidget under the blankets. In situations where she wasn’t 100% comfortable, she took to flirting and playing around to make herself feel more relaxed. Sombra wasn’t sure if she was a guest or being held captive, so her failed attempts at flirting were really starting to make her feel antsy.

“I think you’re the only one who thinks you’re cute.” Widowmaker smirked at the slack-jawed look on Sombra’s face.

“See, now I know you’re lying.” Sombra gestured her chin towards the smirk. “You got that look.”

Widowmaker rolled her eyes at the injured woman’s refusal to let the issue go. “Whether or not I think you’re cute doesn’t change anything.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

“Oh? Please tell me what I’m not seeing.”

“It’s simple really.” Sombra adjusted her glasses, making sure that they didn’t sit crooked on her face. “If you think I’m cute, I’ve got a good chance at getting a date with you.” She was probably messing with fire but she didn’t really have much to lose.

“A date.” The bed shifted when Widowmaker sat down at the edge. She ran a finger along pink bangs, settling on the smooth plastic frames when she was done. “After all this, you want a date. Truly you are one of a kind.”

A shrug. “Life’s too short. Might as well go for what I want when I can.”

She could only nod at the sentiment because it rang far too true. “If that’s what you want, you can have your date if you decide to help me.”

 _Now she’s trying to bribe me. Can’t say I’m not tempted._ “I thought we were going to talk about that later.” Her cheeks started to form a blush when cool fingers went back to running through her hair. It felt good and was entirely unfair. _She’s trying alright._

“We will. Just think of my proposal as something to consider.” She smirked when Sombra pushed her hand away in favor of covering her face with the blankets.

“I’ll think about it.” Her voice sounded muffled from beneath the covers.

Widowmaker got off the bed and went back to reading, satisfied in knowing that Sombra wouldn’t be acting up anytime soon.

-

“Josefina’s had us looking all over for you.” Martín gave Sombra a slap on the back when she walked through one of the many warehouses Los Muertos ran.

“Ay, ay. No me toques.” It’s was only a week since she was shot, she was still sore.

Martín lifted his hands in surrender, backing off a bit when he got a glare from the woman. “¿Qué pasó? You were gone for a while.”

“I got shot Martín. That’s what happened.”

“Damn, now I owe Silvia dinner.”

Sombra stopped in her tracks, clearly unhappy with his response. “You guys bet on what happened to me?”

“Well yeah. You got Josefina all worried so she sent me and Silvia to go look for you. I thought you were just chasing after girls again. Silvia said that you probably got shot.”

Her eyebrow ticked at the explanation. She didn’t let it get to her though, she had more important things to take care of. “Speaking of the boss lady, where is she?”

Martín pointed to the back of the warehouse. “She’s in her office worrying about you. You should probably go see her before she yells at me again for doing a half-ass job in finding you.”

“She only yell at you?”

“Well, yeah. Silvia’s still out looking for you.” His eyes widened in realization. “Shit, I should call her.”

Sombra gave the man a punch on the arm, clearly displeased with his priorities. “You deserved that and Josefina yelling at you.”

He shrugged. “Yeah but she still loves me.”

She gave him another punch. “She loves all of us.” As she walked towards the back of the warehouse, she let out another remark. “But I think she loves you the least.” The resounding ‘Hey!’ echoing behind her made Sombra laugh.

When she got to the back office, the first thing she noticed was that the lights were off. _Does Martín ever know what he’s talking about?_ Shrugging her shoulders, she opened the door anyway.

The distinct glow of pink luminescent body paint was the only thing Sombra could see. Josefina was hunched over her desk, hand resting on her forehead.

“Hey boss lady, long time no see.” Although her voice didn’t show it, Sombra was shaking like a leaf on the inside.

Josefina dropped the glowing hand from her face, slowly reaching behind to flick on the lights. Tears stained her face and red eyes scanned over the woman before her.  “Sombra.”

Now shaking fingers readjusted the glasses on her face. They were starting to slide down her nose in her nervous state. Sombra nearly flinched when Josefina got up from the chair. But all the tension melted away when she was pulled into a hug, wet kisses littering her face from the crying woman.

“You’re okay.” Josefina had an arm wrapped tightly around Sombra, her other hand burying itself in Sombra's pink hair. Just being able to hold her made the week’s worry and anxiety seem forgotten.

The hug wasn’t exactly painless but Sombra didn’t want to ruin the moment. “Sí mamá, estoy bien.” She sucked in a breath when Josefina hugged her tighter.

Of course, she heard that pained exhale. There wasn’t much that could get past her. “No me digas esa mierda. Tell me what’s wrong.” She let go of Sombra, hands already looking for the injury. She knew she found the spot when Sombra recoiled from the touch to her abdomen.

“That fucking hurts.” She unconsciously slapped the hand away, breathing through her teeth in agony. Sombra didn’t even try to stop the other woman when she felt her shirt being lifted up.

“You got shot.” Anger slowly overtook her features as Josefina let the shirt drop. “Just tell me the bastard’s name and he’s dead.”

“No mamá, you don’t need to do that.” Sombra took hold of Josefina’s hand, holding it tight between her own. “That bastard was actually a beautiful woman who changed her mind about killing me.”

“So what? She’s still dead.”

“No, no, no. You gotta listen mamá. She promised me a date if I help her with her revenge thing. I kinda said yes.”

Josefina closed her eyes and sighed. “What am I going to do with you?”

“You’re not mad?”

Another sigh. “No, this sounds exactly like something you’d do.” She grabbed her keys from off the desk and tugged Sombra along with her. “C’mon, let’s go home.”

Sombra laughed, following along after the woman. “Aren’t you working boss lady?”

“If Juan has a problem with me taking my girl home, he can kiss my ass. And besides, you saw, I wasn’t doing much.”

“Can we stop by the bakery on the way home?”

Josefina wrapped an arm around Sombra’s shoulders, already happy with the request. “Hungry already? That’s good. It means you’re doing well.”

-

“Tell me about this woman.”

They were back at Sombra’s small place. Sombra was busy munching away on her sandwich while Josefina took it upon herself to touch up Sombra’s body paint. According to the older woman, she wasn’t glowy enough.

Sombra shivered as another brush of cool paint was spread across the skin of her back. “She goes by Widowmaker. Wants to get back at this Maximilien guy because of something he did. She didn’t actually tell me what he did but she wants a bullet in his head very badly. Had those murder eyes while talking about him.” She took another bite of her sandwich, nearly moaning at how good it felt to finally eat something solid.

“And this woman, she was the one that shot you at the old LumériCo buildings?”

“Mmhm.”

“And you’re helping her because she basically promised you a date?” Putting the finishing touches on Sombra’s back, she moved on to painting an arm.

“Mmhm.”

“What exactly does she want you to do?”

“She wants me to join some group she’s part of, do some infiltration shit. Said it’d be easier that way.”

“And when were you going to mention this to me?”

Sombra smiled. “Right now?”

“Yeah, I can see that.” She motioned for Sombra to turn around so she could start painting the front of her legs.

“Now don’t get mad about what I’m about to say next.”

“Why do I get the feeling that I’m not gonna like it?”

“Well, because you’re not.”

Josefina sighed, putting down the green luminescent paint. She didn’t want to splatter the stuff everywhere if she didn’t take the news well. “Just tell me.”

The last bit of sandwich made it into Sombra’s mouth. She chewed in contemplation as she tried to work out just what to say. She settled on just spitting it out. There was no use in trying to sugar coat it. “She’s part of Talon.”

If the paint was still in her hands, it would already be splattered across the wall. Josefina gritted her teeth, trying her best not to scream. “She wants you to join a fucking terrorist organization?” Her hands were shaking, mind already conjuring up the different scenarios on how Sombra could get killed. “They’re not some petty little gang.”

“I know.”

“There’s a thousand different ways you can get killed.”

Sombra shrugged. “I was already supposed to be dead.”

Josefina couldn’t stop herself from punching Sombra if she tried. She almost felt bad when Sombra winced. Almost. “Don’t say shit like that.”

Rubbing her arm, Sombra looked away from the worried woman. “Look, I already said I’d help her. I don’t want to break a promise.”

Josefina deflated at the words. Sombra was many things. Manipulative. Deceptive. A good liar. But she always kept her word. “You’re hopeless, you know that?”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“All this for one date too.”

“She thinks I’m cute.”

Josefina laughed. “Who wouldn’t think you’re cute with those glasses of yours?”

“I know! I’m a looker with these on.”

They settled in a comfortable silence after Sombra broke the tension. Josefina went back to painting, grinning when Sombra complained she was cold. After what seemed like a lifetime, Josefina finally spoke again.

“Just be careful. You can always call me if you need help.”

“Sí mamá, I will.”

-

_“So, if I help you, what exactly do I have to do?”_

_“You’re going to help me kill someone.”_

_“Oh, okay. Easy stuff.”_

_“Not quite.”_

_Sombra took another drink of water, grateful to finally be able to quench her thirst. “You need help finding the guy?”_

_Widowmaker nodded. “I know that he’s going to be here for a while but since he doesn’t like to be in the open much, he stays hidden. I usually get assignments from him through some contact of his. It’s never direct.”_

_From what she was hearing, it didn’t seem too hard. “I took down LumériCo, this should be a walk in the park.”_

_“And that’s why you’re not dead.”_

_Sombra nodded in understanding. If there was a day to appreciate being a world wanted hacker, it was today. “Okay so, find the guy, kill the guy. Anything else I need to know?”_

_“His name is Maximilien, and that’s all I know about him.”_

_“So, I gotta figure out all this stuff with just a first name?” Sombra didn't like the sound of that._

_“You’ll have a better time if you join the organization I’m part of.”_

_“And why’s that?”_

_“He’s one of the leaders.”_

_“Wait, wait, wait. Just what is this group of yours?”_

_Widowmaker bit her lip, the word coming out like venom. “Talon.”_

_“Oh, okay. So you want me to casually join a terrorist organization and kill one of their leaders.”_

_“Oui.”_

_“And if I manage to pull off all that shit, I’ll get to go on a date with you?”_

_“Oui.”_

_Sombra nearly laughed at the absurdity of it all. “That’s a lot you’re asking of me.”_

_“Is there anything else you’d want?”_

_“Tell you what, admit that you think the glasses look is cute and I’ll do it.”_

_Before, it was just a matter of denying Sombra the self-satisfaction of being right. Because by all means, Widowmaker couldn’t truthfully say she didn’t find the glasses on Sombra cute. But now, she wasn’t so prideful to admit it. She sighed, knowing that Sombra was going to milk the moment for all it was worth. “Yes, yes. That glasses look is cute on you.”_

_Sombra picked up the spoon from the bowl that was sitting in front of her for the longest time. It was about time she started eating her soup. “Alright, let’s do it.”_

_Surprised that Sombra took to quietly eating her soup, Widowmaker could only stare at the woman. She was sure Sombra would have had more to say, but there she was, just eating. Quite frankly, she was surprised the woman even wanted to work with her after she nearly killed her._

_“I got one more question for you.”_

_Blinking out of her thoughts, Widowmaker focused on what Sombra had to say. “What is it?”_

_“What were you doing at the old LumériCo buildings anyway?”_

_“I was assigned to take out some Los Muertos nuisances.”_

_“Oh.” Sombra squeaked out._

_“You were the only one I could find.”_

_“Must have been my lucky day then.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm._

Sombra hugged her teddy bear closer, blurry eyes focusing on the glow emanating from her arms. It was a couple of hours since Josefina left. Everything from the past week flashed in her mind as she tried to sleep. It all seemed so crazy, like a made-up dream.

“Lucky me, right Luisa?”

The bear didn’t talk back, but she felt reassured anyway.

 

 


	2. Something Flashy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sombra gets the tour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, special thanks to metalwarrior22 for making sure this fic was readable.

“You gotta stop crying Martín. It’s ruining the mood.” Silvia smiled from across the fold out table in Sombra’s small apartment. There was a varied arrangement of food spread out in front of her. She almost laughed as Martín huffed at his empty wallet for the fifth time that night.

“You’d be crying too if you had no money.”

Silvia shrugged, obviously unconcerned with Martín’s financial status. “I’m not the one that lost the bet.” She pointed her chin towards their host. “By the looks of it, Sombra’s gonna eat it all by herself if you keep complaining.”

At the mention of her name, Sombra paused mid-chew. She looked up from her plate to see Silvia and Martín staring at her. “What?”

“We’re supposed to wait for Josefina. She’s the one that wanted this.” Martín gestured towards all the food.

“I’m hungry now. Boss lady will understand.” She tried to shove another tostada in her mouth, only managing to eat a fourth of it. “Besides, I’m still recovering from getting shot.”

“The only understanding she’s gonna do is pulling your ear off for thinking that bullshit excuse would even work.” Silvia was already making a plate for Josefina.

Re-evaluating the situation, Sombra put down her tostada. And just as the partially eaten food hit her plate, the door to her apartment swung open.

Josefina looked tired. Her breath came in huffs as she kicked the door closed behind her. She was carrying a hand gun, little specs of blood spotting her face. “Sorry I’m late. Got a little caught up.” Crossing to the table, she tucked the gun in her waistband.

If anyone was concerned, they didn’t show it. Instead they welcomed Josefina with smiles. Martín even handed her a napkin when she was close enough.

“Don’t worry about it mamá, we haven’t eaten yet.” Silvia placed the filled plate in front of the empty seat.

“Oh? This one looks guilty.” Josefina’s hand was already at Sombra’s ear, pinching the lobe between her thumb and forefinger. “I could have sworn I taught you manners.”

“Ay, ay.” Sombra tried to pull her ear away but Josefina’s grip was sturdy. “How’d you know I even ate anything?”

“Besides the cheese on your face?” She watched with a growing smile as Sombra hurriedly tried to wipe away the evidence. “Unless it came like that, your tostada has a bite taken out of it.”

“Perdóname.” Sombra adjusted her glasses on her face, giving Josefina the best puppy eyes she could muster. “Can’t blame a girl for being hungry.”

“What do you two think? Should I forgive her?”

Martín doggedly shook his head no while Silvia just shrugged. Sombra was left gawking at them.

“Ah, come on mamá. I said I was sorry. Isn’t that enough?” Nervous fingers readjusted her glasses to keep herself busy.

Josefina stared down at Sombra for a bit, narrowed eyes seeming like she was considering something. “Yeah, yeah.” She let go of Sombra’s ear, chuckling to herself as the woman sighed in relief. “It’s only because you’re wearing those cute glasses.” She leaned down to place a quick kiss on Sombra’s forehead. When she tried to pull back, Sombra stopped her. She felt a thumb rub across a spot on her thumb, blood staining a napkin when Sombra wiped her thumb off.

“Let’s eat yeah?” Sombra crumpled the bloodied napkin, tossing it into the small wastebin in the corner of the room. As soon as Josefina nodded, Sombra was back to digging into the feast Martín provided.

“You spoil her mamá,” said Silvia.

“Just this once she can get away with it.” Josefina finally sat down and sighed in relief. “This dinner is for her after all.”

Martín seemed displeased with that. “I spent all my money on the spoiled brat?”

“I’m gonna ignore that you called me a brat ‘cause I love you.” Sombra had a rice filled spoon pointed at Martín. “I’m not going to be around much for a while. I’ve got a super secret assignment to take care of.” She shoved the spoon in her mouth before scooping up some more rice. “I could die you know.”

“What assignment?” asked Silvia. She seemed to be more worried with the news than Martín.

“She’s chasing after some woman.” Josefina shrugged, nearly sighing at the thought of it. “Tu hermana es una romántica.”

Silvia sighed as well, “Sí, una romántica, pero también una idiota.”

“You too?” Sombra tried to get to Silvia, spoon in her hand ready to do _something_ with it. Her sister was lucky Martín was holding her down.

The rest of dinner went well after Josefina threatened them all with cleaning duty. Like Silvia predicted, Sombra ate most of the food. All Sombra said in her defense was the same old, “I got shot,” line. It was midnight when everyone said their goodbyes, leaving the small apartment. Everyone except Silvia.

“You staying over?” Sombra had her eyes closed, concentrating on digesting.

“Call me sentimental, but if I’m not gonna see my sister for a while, I want to spend more time with her.” Silvia pressed the pile of used paper plates together, tossing them all in the trash. She got to work folding up the table. “Besides, I don’t think you’re telling me everything about your ‘assignment’.”

“You always were the smart one Silvia.”

“And you’re still keeping on with your lying bullshit.”

“Is it really that bad?” She got up from her chair, stretching her arms above her head. “I’m gonna get washed up. I’ll tell you everything in a bit.” Sombra listened to sound of chairs being put away before disappearing into the bathroom. When she came out, Silvia was already wearing some of her clothes.

“Your toothbrush was the purple one, right?” Sombra jumped onto her bed when she was close enough. She tucked Luisa under her chin, waiting for Silvia to answer.

“It was blue.”

Sombra frowned. _I threw that one away._ “It’s purple now.”

“Why do I trust you with anything?”

“Because you love me?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s how you get away with half your shit anyway.”

 _I thought the blue one was Martín’s. Woops._ She felt the bed shift when Silvia sat on the edge.

“Let me see.”

It took a moment for Sombra to know what Silvia was asking. It clicked when she saw eyes trained on her shirt. “Ay Silvia, I’m fine. You don’t have to check it every day.” She lifted her shirt anyway, knowing that her sister wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

The wound was outlined in purple, the color getting darker as it neared the center. Silvia’s fingertips hovered above the deep red patch of broken skin. Seeing it sometimes made her heart drop, because it reminded her that even the ones you love the most could vanish in an instant. “It’s not gonna kill you to let me see.” She pulled the shirt down and got up from the bed. “I’ll be back.” She rolled her eyes at Sombra’s pouting face, leaving for the bathroom when Sombra mimicked the gesture.

As Silvia disappeared into the bathroom, Sombra made herself comfortable, scooting closer to the wall so her sister could fit. She started humming to herself. Her humming was cut short when the bed dipped again.

“What’s really going on with you?”

She felt an arm wrap around her midsection. Sombra smiled at the close contact; Silvia and her were always the touchy ones. “I’m joining Talon.”

“Like hell you are.”

The grip around her stomach got tighter. “I’m not lying Silvia.”

“So, what, you’re doing it just for a woman?”

“Every time I hear it like that, it just sounds more and more ridiculous.”

“That’s because it is. I would hope that if I started talking about going somewhere crazy because of _one_ person, you would slap some sense into me.” Silvia nudged Sombra’s shoulder with her nose. “Do you need me to slap you?”

“I’m pretty hopeless. It wouldn’t do much.” She felt a huff of breath on her skin. Silvia was getting frustrated with her.

“If you die, I’ll be pissed.”

“Me too.”

That was the last of their conversation as Silvia decidedly kept her mouth shut. Silence had settled over them and Sombra swore she could hear her sister brooding behind her. It wasn’t until she heard Silvia’s steady breathing did she finally relax enough to get some sleep as well.

-

_“So how do I get in?” asked Sombra. She was happy with the cup of coffee in her hands, enough so that the usual pain in her side didn’t seem so bad._

_“You have to show a little initiative. Most of Talon is recruited.” Widowmaker picked up her own cup, taking a sip of the hot liquid._

_“So, something flashy?”_

_“Oui, something flashy.”_

It was a breeze taking out the security cameras in the Talon hideout Widowmaker told her about. All she had to do was finish picking the lock and she could just stroll right in through the back door.

The familiar click was all she needed to hear. “And there we go.” Pushing the door open, Sombra waltzed right in. It was a long hallway with a lot of empty offices. She finally found one with the lights on. _Okay, I’m probably gonna get shot for this but…_ Sombra sucking in a breath, opening the door in one motion. _That date better be worth it._

There was some meeting going on, a man in black stood in the center. He turned around when the door opened.

“Hey Gabe.” Sombra waved her fingers in a hopefully non-threatening gesture. “You mind if I call you Gabe?” It took all her willpower to keep a smile on her face when several guns were aimed at her head. She sighed in relief when Gabe raised his hand, signaling for them to lower their weapons.

He was frowning. The confident smile on the woman’s face had him crossing his arms. He didn’t like it. “Who are you?”

“Heard you guys were looking for new members.” Sombra directed both her thumbs at her chest. “I want in.”

Gabriel laughed. “You think you can walk right in and get what you want?” He laughed again. “That’s not how this works.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She waved him off. Taking out her phone, she tapped the screen for a bit before looking back at the displeased man. “Check your phone, you might want to take a look.”

At the suggestion, he felt a buzzing in his pocket. There were warning bells going off in his head telling him not to trust the woman. He ignored them for the moment, more curious than anything. Checking the alert, he nearly dropped his phone at the list of names that were displayed on his screen. “Where did you get this?”

Sombra shrugged, chuckling at how he seemed to be close to breaking his phone in two. “Guess you’ll have to let me join up if you wanna know.” She pulled out her phone and started scrolling through the document she sent Gabe. “Gabriel Reyes. Oh, says here you were a US army boy. I wonder what you’re doing down here?”

“You know what? I suddenly don’t care anymore.” Gabriel reached behind and pulled out his gun, the barrel pointed straight at Sombra’s head.

Shit, shit, shit. “Come on now Gabe…” Sombra was at a loss for words on how to turn the situation around. He really seemed like he didn’t give a damn.

“Oh? You don’t seem so confident now.” His fingers squeezed around the gun.

“If I die, all this shit gets uploaded to the net.” The sight of the gun almost made her forget about the precautions she had in place.

“I’ll take that chance.” Gabriel started to smile at the utter hopelessness coloring Sombra’s face.

Sombra jumped at the loud sound that echoed through the room. Even when she deduced she wasn’t dead, her heart felt ready to burst.

“Put the gun down Reyes, she’s in,” said Akande. He pushed past the group of hired hands and took a seat at the table in the room.

Gabriel lowered the gun a bit, skeptical eyes boring into Sombra’s lucky ones.

“Oh, thank God plan B worked.” Sombra let out a relieved sigh.

“What’s going on?” asked Gabriel.

“I sent another email to Akande along with yours. Figured one of you would be more reasonable than the other.” She relaxed when Gabriel finally put his gun down. “Thanks for not shooting me though. I really appreciate that.”

“Sombra.”

Sombra straightened up at the sound of the deep voice directed her way. “Yeah boss man?”

“I’m going to put you with Lacroix. You’ll receive mission details soon,” said Akande.

“That fast huh?”

“We have a lot of work to do in this area. I don’t want to fall behind on our tasks.” Akande crossed his hands under his chin, eyes looking towards Gabriel. “Why don’t you show her around Reyes? Make sure she picks a room.”

“Come on.” Gabriel waved Sombra over. There was no point in trying to get someone else to do what was asked of him. “Let’s get this over with quick.”

Sombra had to jog after the man as he sped through the door. “Slow down Gabe.” She barely caught up to him before he stopped in the middle of some hallway.

“These are the rooms.” He pointed to three doors. “Those are the only empty ones.” Gabriel cracked his neck and sighed. “Just pick one so I can be done with this.”

“This was the shittiest tour I’ve ever been on.” She was pouting at his lack of enthusiasm.

“I really don’t care what you think.”

She shrugged, having dealt with far worse. “Alright, I got it.” Looking down the hallway with a brand new set of purple contacts, Sombra spotted a set of doors all the way on the other side. “What about those over there?”

“One’s already taken and you don’t want to stay in the other.”

“Why not? That room looks like it’s the biggest.”

“Because it’s right across from Lacroix.”

“And why’s that a bad idea?”

“She shot the last guy that stayed there because he was playing his radio past eleven.”

“See, now I want to stay there even more.” Her smile grew at the prospects of sleeping across from the lion’s den. “I’ve got a thing for dangerous women.”

“You know what?” Gabriel shrugged his shoulders as he started to turn around. “If you want to stay over there, be my guest. I tried to warn you.”

She watched as the grumpy man stalked off down the hallway, presumably to get back to that meeting she interrupted. “Guess I’ll check out the place myself.”

-

After wandering through most of the building, Sombra found herself in the kitchen, excitement written on her face at the sight of her new partner.

“Funny running into you here.” Sombra stopped in her tracks when she spotted the camera overlooking the kitchen. Her eyes gestured towards it, hoping her new partner would get the message.

“That camera is video only.” Widowmaker took a sip of her wine, returning most of her concentration to the pan in front of her. “I see you got in.”

“It was pretty easy. Well, after Gabe decided not to shoot me.” She leaned on the counter, looking over to the pan of food cooking. “Think I can have some?”

“You didn’t eat before getting here?” Widowmaker took the pan off the heat and turned off the stove.

“My sister made me breakfast this morning, but that’s all I’ve eaten.”

“I don’t know what you want me to do about it.”

“Come on! You took such _great_ care of me before.” Her stomach rumbled at the smell of the food.

“Oui, to make sure you wouldn’t die,” said Widowmaker. She placed the food onto a plate and walked over to the counter, taking a seat on one of the stools. “You seem fine now.”

Sombra was quick to take the stool next to the woman. “You’re just gonna let me starve then?”

Widowmaker sighed. “You’re a grown woman in a kitchen full of food. Figure it out.”

“Please?” Begging was her last-ditch effort of getting her way.

Widowmaker slid off the stool, plate in hand. She grabbed another plate from the cabinet and scraped off half her vegetables onto it. For the chicken, she cut it in half and placed it on the other plate as well. When everything was separated in half, Widowmaker opened another cabinet, pulling out a butter dish.

Sombra just sat and watched in surprise. When a plate appeared in front of her, complete with an added slice of buttered bread, she didn’t hesitate in digging in. “You’re a lifesaver. Well, you know, when you’re not busy shooting people.” The food was good. Not something she’d normally eat but satisfying to her taste buds nonetheless.

Widowmaker rolled her eyes at the comment. “We have an assignment for tomorrow.”

“Ah, so you’re the Lacroix that shot the radio man.”

Sharp eyes locked onto Sombra’s. “Who told you that?”

“Gabe did.” A shrug. “He told me that I shouldn’t stay in the room across from yours because of it. Honestly, I thought it was kind of hot.”

“It sounds like you want to get shot again.”

The pain in her side flared up at the mention of going through that experience again. “You know, I think once was enough.”

“Then you’ll have no problem keeping quiet when I’m trying to sleep.”

She made a mental note to lock her door once eleven hit. “Yeah, sure thing Widow. I’ll let you sleep.”

“We’ll see how long that lasts.” The guilty look on Sombra’s face was enough to confirm her suspicions. Her new neighbor was going to be anything but quiet.

-

Sombra pulled out her phone at the vibrating notification. She instantly went to reply when she saw that it was Silvia.

- _Is it alright if I crash at your place?_

_-Lose your keys again?_

_-No, there’s a party outside my window._

_-I thought you liked parties ;)_

_-I swear to god Sombra..._

_-Lighten up! Yeah, you can stay._

_-I knew you weren’t that much of an ass :)_

“Sombra.”

“Hmm?” Sombra barely looked up from her phone to glance at Widowmaker. It was dark outside, she couldn’t see much on the roof they were on anyway.

“What are you doing?” Focused eyes never left the scope of her rifle.

“Texting my sister.”

A frown. “I need this to work out. They’ll cut you loose if you don’t prove useful.”

“What exactly does ‘cutting me loose’ mean?”

“You’ll probably end up in a ditch somewhere.”

That got her attention. “Wait, wait, wait. You didn’t say that they’ll fucking _kill_ me if I suck at my job.”

“Details.”

“You’re not just saying that to mess with me are you?”

Widowmaker just smiled.

It was an eerie smile. Sombra couldn’t make heads or tails on what it meant. One thing she did know was that her stomach started churning with nervous energy. Looking back to her phone she quickly typed out a message to her sister.

_-Hey, uh, I gotta go. Working right now._

_-Working on getting a girlfriend you mean._

_-Haha, a girl’s gotta have priorities. I’ll text you later okay?_

_-You better. Later._

“Okay, I’m all business and serious.”

“Good.” Movement at the end of the scope caught her attention. “Are the systems down?”

“Yeah, we’re good to go.”

“Do it.”

With one touch of her phone, all the lights in the building they’ve been scoping out flickered off. Two seconds passed before the sprinkler system started. Sombra could only chuckle as floods of people came running out of the building. And then a shot rang out into the night air, screaming echoing off the buildings in the aftermath.

“They’re distracted, go.”

Taking a deep breath, Sombra prepared herself for the strain on her body. She smirked at her partner, already knowing the answer to her request. “Can a girl get a good luck kiss?” As expected, sharp eyes cut through her like paper. “You know what? I’m leaving right now.”

Conveniently, there was a fire escape down the side of the building. Sombra just had to carefully climb down and make her way over. Easier said than done. “Ow, ow.” The wound was still tender and every step down pulled on her skin. “Why did I sign up for this again?” It was too late to question her decisions when her foot touched the ground.

It was a small painful jog, somewhat of a difficult task since she had to sneak in unnoticed. She took the elevator, confident that everyone was too busy panicking to ride it. When the elevator opened up to the fifth floor, Sombra immediately turned the corner, walking into the room she researched beforehand.

“Alright, let’s see… Which one was it?” Her eyes scanned the wall safes. One of them had a back-up drive of everything she needed. She shrugged. “Guess I’ll open them both.”

The first one she opened just had money in it. “Well that’s boring.” She took some anyway, already planning on treating Silvia to dinner and sending a photo to Martín to make him jealous. The second one also had cash, the shiny black back-up drive she was looking for sitting atop the pile. “Bingo.” Pocketing her prizes, she closed the safes back up. “Can’t say I’m useless now.”

Fingers reached up to press on her earpiece. “Hey beautiful. Job’s done. Don’t leave without me okay?” She heard footsteps walking down the hallway, a slew of curses echoing off the walls. _That’s my cue to leave._

_-_

“Carry me.” Sombra was huffing on the ground of the alleyway. She ran much more than anticipated, having an encounter with the police when she left the building. Her face hurt. Sombra managed to escape by the skin of her teeth, scraping her face in the process when she fell. She nearly sighed in pleasure when cool fingers touched her aching skin.

“What happened?”

“Got chased down by the police ‘cause I looked suspicious.” She clutched her side when a shock of pain spread through her abdomen. “I mean, they weren’t wrong. Managed to get away but I tripped and ate pavement right afterwards.”

“A shame.”

“Yeah, how am I supposed to look cute with my face all scratched up?”

Widowmaker lifted her fingers from the Sombra’s face, watching as a frown appeared from the loss of contact. “I like scars.”

And suddenly the scrapes on her face didn’t seem so bad. “Really?”

“Yes really.” Leaning over, she motioned for Sombra to climb on her back. “Come on, let’s go.”

“You’re really going to carry me?” Sombra didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around her partner’s shoulders, squeezing her legs tight around her midsection. She rested her head in the crook of Widowmaker’s cool neck, reveling in how soothing it felt. Mumbled words barely carried in the alleyway. “Thank you.”

The walk was silent, but Sombra felt comfortable. It felt so nice, so she wrapped her arms tighter, enjoying the feeling.

-

_-Sent myface.img_

_-What the hell happened to your face?_

_-Ran into the police :P_

_-You sound so happy about it._

_-She thinks scars are hot ;)_

_-I’d like it better if my sister came home alive :/_

_-I’ll be fine. Don’t worry so much. Anyway, you free on Sunday?_

_-I’m busy for a while, why?_

_-Wanna go to dinner without Mart_ _ín?_

_-I’ll try and get a Sunday freed up. Try and stay alive by then, okay?_

_-Got it. I’ll try my best, only for you though :)_

_-Kissass_

_-Love you too. I’m gonna head to bed. See you on a Sunday._

_-You going to bed before 11? Now I know there’s something wrong._

_-Just tired is all. Everything sort of hurts._

_-Alright, I’ll believe you just this once. Night._

Sombra tossed her phone onto the bed stand, sighing in relief when she stretched out. Fingers idly moved to her face, feeling the bandages Widowmaker applied when they got back. Akande told her that she did a job well done, adding in that medical services were for life threatening injuries only. AKA code for: you’re on your own. So, it came as a bit of a surprise when Widowmaker offered to patch her up.

“What am I doing?” She felt like shit.  She should have been lying in bed for a month, eating Silvia’s food and listening to Martín complain about having to take care of her.

There was a feeling in the back of her mind telling her to run. But everything else kept coming back to the look in Widowmaker’s eyes, the way her body shook when she said she wanted revenge. Something happened. For a woman that skilled to need help killing one person, Sombra was certain that there was nothing but trouble waiting. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself to leave, there was still a big part of herself whispering that all the trouble would be worth it. That it was wrong to ignore a plea for help, even if it was coming from the woman that shot her.

“I’m such a sentimental idiot.”

As enough time passed with her eyes closed, Sombra felt sleep approaching fast. She yawned a bit, burrowing the less injured side of her face into her pillow. And in just a few more minutes, she passed out, blissfully unaware of the pain wracking her body.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot to fix for this chapter and thanks to my beta for this fic, metalwarrior22, I managed to whip it into shape. Hope you enjoy.

Two weeks after headlines of ‘Local Banking CEO Shot Dead, Millions Disappear in Wake of Tragedy’, Sombra found herself in her partner’s room, eyes wandering as Widowmaker ran a needle through her skin.

“This isn’t the same room you brought me to when you shot me.” Wandering fingers roamed the bedspread while her teeth were clenched to keep the pain at bay. She’d grab a fistful of the sheets every time the needle passed through again.

“I rent an apartment. The less time I spend here, the better.” A cool hand firmly pressed down on Sombra’s hip when she started to squirm. “Stay still.”

Sombra squeezed her eyes tight as the needle went through a particularly sensitive part of the gash. “You weren’t the one that got stabbed.”

“And you wouldn’t have gotten stabbed if you did what I asked.”

“I tried to stay still but I slipped! That garage was covered in oil.”

“You can’t slip if you don’t move.” With one final pull, Widowmaker cut the end of the thread, leaving an immaculate stitching job on her partner’s stomach. The fresh wound was on the opposite side of where she shot Sombra. To her surprise, Sombra didn’t complain as much as she expected. She just gave a grimaced smiled, saying a cheeky line about how she knew a woman that was into scars.

“You’d be surprised at the things that could happen.” In all actuality, she thought she could sneak by unnoticed, but she ended up slipping and knocking over a couple of toolboxes. Raiding the garage of a local gang to intercept their next shipment of weapons was easier said than done. Especially when each member was prone to carrying knives. Sombra thanked her lucky stars that the sight of one man missing chunks of his brain because of Widowmaker shooting from the distance was enough to scare the piss out of the other guys out for her blood. Too many knives versus her zero bullets, it wouldn’t have ended well.

Leaning back in her chair, Widowmaker rolled her eyes at the ceiling. “You are impossible sometimes.”

Sombra wiped at her forehead, rubbing the cold sweat collected at her fingertips onto her shirt. The pain was getting to her. “Hey…”

“Hm?” Brown eyes never left the ceiling.

“Can I stay here a bit longer? I’m not feeling too hot.” There was a chill traveling down her body. Sombra wanted to snuggle under the soft sheets of her partner’s bed and sleep away the ache.

Widowmaker dropped the needle she held and dug her nails into the edge of the bed. Her teeth were clenched together and her eyes were unfocused. 

 

"Widow? Hey.” Sombra waved her hand in front of the dazed woman.

She blinked. The touch was barely there as a careful hand reached for her wrist. Sombra sat up, her other hand clutching at the stitches. Concern colored her eyes. Widowmaker glanced down briefly to her wrist. “What?”

“You okay?”

A simple question with a simple answer. “I’m fine.” Her wrist moved until Sombra’s fingers slid away. “You are the one looking pale as a ghost.” And it was true. The color siphoned from Sombra’s face, the sweat beading along her skin making her appearance seem sickly. “Lie down, you need to rest.” Sombra didn’t budge.

“You’re in pain too.” It wasn’t a question. She could see it clear as day.

She wanted it to be a simple answer, to be fine. It hurt too much not to pretend she wasn’t. “I’m fine.” Widowmaker got up from the chair, kneeling on the bed with one knee as she brought a hand to Sombra’s shoulder. They locked eyes as she pushed her back down. “Rest.”

A million questions ran through her mind. Each one led back to one name: Maximilien. She wanted to ask, to know what he did, but the deep brown eyes peering down at her begged her not to. And she understood. Some memories weren’t meant to be brought back.

Widowmaker moved up on the bed until she was sitting next to the other woman. She tapped Sombra’s shoulder, a silent invitation to come closer. Fingers buried themselves in soft, pink dyed hair when Sombra moved to rest her head beside Widowmaker’s lap. She stared straight ahead, hoping the soothing touch would quell any more questions.

“I can’t-” Widowmaker clenched her jaw, head shaking from the pressure. Of course, she was very aware she had yet to explain the exact reason she needed the hacker’s help. A twinge of guilt sparked in her stomach every time the other woman came back with more scars. Right now, speaking was impossible.

Sombra closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of fingers weaving through her hair. “Okay.” It was an out. The slow, careful exhale of breath from the woman behind told her that she took it.

-

Sombra was ten minutes late to the restaurant. Her sister was sitting at their reserved table glaring at the empty chair opposite her.

“Hey, sorry I’m late.”

“It’s fine, you’re always late.” Silvia didn’t miss the way Sombra limped to the table, how she slowly sank into the chair.

“It doesn’t seem fine.” Two fingers pointed to her own eyes. “You’re giving me the glare.”

“I’m…” She sighed, looking down at the table instead. “I’m not glaring at _you_. I’m glaring at that bitch through you.”

“Woah, that escalated. You haven’t even met her.”

“I don’t need to meet her. Look at you!” Hands gestured towards Sombra. “You’re limping, you look paler than my fucking sheets, and your face is scratched to hell.”

Sombra touched her face, frowning at Silvia’s words. “You don’t think I look pretty?”

“Don’t start that deflecting shit with me. You will always be beautiful but that’s not the point. She’s _using_ you.”

That struck a nerve. “You know, I came to have dinner with my sister, not to argue about a woman you don’t know.”

“And I want to leave this restaurant knowing that my sister will be okay. That there isn’t someone out there having you kill yourself for a fucking date.”

“It’s not like that.” Sombra took a subtle glance to the side, seeing their waiter standing by with an apprehensive look on his face. “Yes, I want the date. But there’s more to it. I’d appreciate it if you’d drop it.” She reached across the table and took Silvia’s hand. “Te quiero.” The small smile she got in return was all she needed to see.

“That’s not fair and you know it.”

Sombra shrugged. “I’m not the one who’s all mushy.”

Silvia looked down at the table, absentmindedly running a thumb along the hand she held. “Yeah, you’re not.”

Before Sombra could pretend to be offended, their waiter finally came by.

“Me disculpo por la espera.”

Sombra waved him off. “Está bien.” She told him their order, grinning to herself as she requested the exact same thing for them both so she could mooch off her sister’s plate. After some deliberation, Sombra ordered tequila.

“¿Tequila?” Silvia let go of Sombra’s hand, using her freed palm to prop up her chin. “You’re not going to last long.”

“I don’t have any assignments coming up. Might as well get drunk with my favorite person in the whole wide world.”

Silvia perked up at the admission. “So, you’re coming home tonight?”

“Yup. Miss me already?”

A shrug. “It’s not the same with you gone.”

Sombra leaned in across the table, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Does Martín miss me?”

Another shrug. “Don’t know.”

Arms now crossed, Sombra slumped back in her chair. “Then I won’t invite him over for breakfast.”

Silvia laughed. “You’re not going to invite him for the breakfast that _I’m_ going to end up making.”

“Never said I was gonna do it.”

“No, you didn’t.” She smiled, knowing exactly how many times Sombra actually cooked for anyone that wasn’t herself. It was exactly six.

“You know I always appreciate it.”

Their waiter came by with the requested drink, silently leaving the two of them to talk. Sombra blindly reached out for the bottle, pouring some for them both.

“Besides,” Sombra started, “I miss your food. Widow’s food is fine. It’s just so French.”

“She cooks for you?”

“Yeah. Does it with a cute scowl the whole time too.” She made a face after downing her shot. “Why the hell did I get this again?”

Silvia shrugged, keeping any comment she might have had to herself.

-

The whole walk back to Sombra’s apartment was filled with drunken singing. Silvia had to reel her back in when Sombra decided to accentuate the words with an arm flail off to the side. It didn’t help that the strangers they’d pass would sing along as well, assisting in fueling the intoxicated need to burst into song.

“I’m hooome.” Sombra lovingly touched the door to her apartment, a wide grin on her face at the familiar texture. “Missed you.”

It was quite the sight to see Sombra pat her pocket over and over again. The same one, for about a minute.

“Where’s my keys?”

“Got them right here.” Silvia held her set of spare keys in front of the woman. She had no idea if Sombra remembered to bring her keys or not. It was more of a placating gesture.

Sombra managed to ding her knee as she passed over the threshold, exaggeratingly limping the rest of the way into her apartment. Silvia had to guide her to the bathroom after she got tired of watching her sister shuffle her way to the bathroom. When she was positive Sombra didn’t need any help in the bathroom, she stalked off to the kitchen for some water.

“Here.” Silvia shoved a glass of water into Sombra’s hand, making sure Sombra had a good grip on it before letting go. “That should be gone by the time I get back.”

After a while of staring at the cup, Sombra shrugged and downed the whole glass in three big gulps. She started humming to herself, plopping the cup on the nearest flat surface. It was only slightly difficult to change her clothes and that was because she kept putting them on backwards.

It felt good to finally flop on her bed, feet hanging off the edge because she couldn’t be bothered to move. Sombra was comfortable in her position even though she only managed to tug the blanket over her legs.

As she felt herself dozing off, her sleepy hands continued with their new nightly ritual. Gentle fingertips glided over broken skin, carefully tracing the new scars she never expected to have. Sombra nearly flinched when she felt a foreign touch on her stomach.

“What happened?”

“Mmm,” Sombra dropped her hand to the bed, letting Silvia examine the newest addition to her skin for as long as she wanted, “got stabbed. Really fucking hurt.”

It took Silvia all the willpower she didn’t have not to get angry. Most of the jobs she took on ended up giving her more scars than she came with. It was hard to justify her anger when Talon had Sombra doing the kinds of jobs Los Muertos had her do. And it wasn’t like Sombra never found herself in trouble on an assignment. She just never got badly hurt.

And now it seemed like it was the new norm.

“She took you to the doctor?” Silvia’s traced over the immaculate stitching. A small comfort in knowing Sombra was getting cared for.

“Nope. Did them herself.” A yawn. “Taught me how to do it too.” Her yawned turned into a choked gasp when she was suddenly picked up and placed on the far edge of the bed.

Silvia grinned at Sombra’s sleepy protests knowing full well that the fussing was to cover up the embarrassment of being caught off guard. “Call me if things get bad. I’ll take you to the hospital.” Getting into bed, she pulled the covers over them both.

Sombra made a small noise in return, too tired to talk anymore.

-

The next morning, Sombra happily ate the pan dulce that Silvia picked up from the bakery. She was a little disappointed when her sister said she wasn’t going to cook but then Silvia pulled out the bag of pan dulce she was hiding behind her back and all was quickly forgiven. Silvia always got the pink ones for her as a joke. “Because it matches your hair,” she’d say.

There was a brief knock on the door. There was enough time for Sombra to look up from her Monday morning cartoons to see Martín walk into her apartment.

“Who invited you?” She stuffed more of the pan dulce in her mouth, giving him her best glare.

Martín laughed on his way to the kitchen. “Is that how you greet family?”

“Yeah, especially when they come over and eat all the good stuff.”

He shrugged, thanking Silvia when she handed him a plate and a cup of café con leche. “You look like shit.”

“Feel like it too.”

“Maybe you’ll come back with those muscles you’ve always wanted.” Martín plopped down on the cushion right next to Sombra, stuffing his mouth with the pan dulce. “Josefina always kept you away from the real action. She babied you if you asked me.”

“Can’t say I was asking.”

Silvia came out of the kitchen balancing two cups and her plate of bread. She gave a cup to Sombra before sitting beside Martín. “Josefina doesn’t baby her. Spoils her rotten, yes.”

“She does! Josefina never gives her the hard assignments. It’s always you and me doing the actual work and all Sombra does is play on her phone the whole time.” He took a sip of his coffee. “I mean, look at you! You look like you could rip my arm off. And this one over here is skinny as ever.” His hands traced a box around Sombra to emphasize his point.

Sombra pursed her lips and slapped away the irritating hands. “Josefina has me swamped with plenty of work. It’s just not…muscle-y stuff.”

Sticking the last piece of bread in his mouth, Martín rolled his eyes. “Hacking doesn’t give you muscles you know.” He stood up with empty dishes in hand and started towards the kitchen. “It looks like they’re actually putting you to work. When you’re done with whatever it is you’re doing, I expect to see my sister looking ripped.”

“Yeah, yeah.” A messaging alert sounded from Sombra’s pocket. She put down her plate on the cushion Martín was sitting on to fish out her phone.

“Is that her?” Martín tried to lean over to look at Sombra’s phone when he got back from the kitchen. She was too busy texting to respond to him, but apparently not busy enough to shove his face away. He settled for stealing her unattended pan dulce. It was in his seat after all.

Sombra put down her phone after a minute and glared at Martín. He was wiggling his eyebrows as he ate her bread. “She’s coming over. Don’t be an ass when she gets here.” She swiped the bread back, dipping the last bits of it in her coffee before eating it.

A while after eating breakfast and watching nothing but old cartoons, there was another knock on the door. It was short and the person on the other side was polite enough not to barge in. Sombra got up from the couch, eyeing the other two with suspicion. She mouthed ‘Don’t try anything’ before opening the door.

Widowmaker was standing on the other side, face bloody and lips set in a small frown. She watched Sombra extend a hand to her. She took it, having no reason not to.

Sombra smiled when Widowmaker actually took her hand. “Come on, bedroom’s this way.”

On the way to the bedroom, Widowmaker could feel two sets of eyes on her. She glanced in their direction while wiping away the smeared blood on her face from a busted lip. One of them gulped when she gave them a half smile. The other one glared at her.

Inside Sombra’s bedroom, Widowmaker gave the place a quick once-over. It was spacious for the size of her apartment. Even the giant computer set up didn’t take away that much space.

Sombra walked over to the computer chair and started dragging it towards the bed. Once Widowmaker was seated on the backward chair, she watched her partner take off her shirt to reveal the gash on her back.

“Here.” Widowmaker dug into her thigh pouch and tossed her first aid kit onto the bed.

“I’d hate to be the other guy.” Sombra picked up the kit, rifling through for the things she needed. After cleaning the wound, Sombra passed a needle through broken flesh. She kept a hand on Widowmaker’s back to keep her movements steady.

“He’s dead.”

“You really know how to tell a story.”

A sigh. “He missed, I didn’t.”

“I’m sitting at the edge of my seat from hearing that.” Technically, she was. Sombra could tell Widowmaker was rolling her eyes at the comment. She spared the woman more of her cheesy lines by staying quiet.

After finishing the stitches, Sombra disinfected the busted lip. “You can crash in my room until you feel like leaving. Silvia and Martín won’t bother you in here.” Surprise shone in her eyes when Widowmaker nodded her head and got up from the chair to slink into her bed.

Widowmaker reminded Sombra of a cat. Curled up but somehow taking up all the space on the bed by lying in the dead center. It was sort of cute. She draped a blanket over the tired woman and placed a spare shirt on the edge of the bed.

As Sombra quietly closed the door behind her, she could hear shuffling and whispered words coming from the couch. When she looked over, the two of them stopped moving.

Slowly sinking back into her abandoned couch cushion, Sombra regarded the quiet duo with suspicion. “What is it?”

Martín cleared his throat before speaking. “So that’s the woman that’s got you tangled up?”

Sombra took her time answering. She wasn’t sure where this was going. “Yes.”

A whistle. He tapped his fingers on his knees, looking down into his lap for something to say. “She seems…intense.”

“I know that’s not what you wanted to say.”

Under the scrutiny of skeptical eyes, Martín caved. “Okay, look, she walks in here and as soon as she looked at me, I felt like I was done for. Like she was gonna shoot me just for looking back.”

“I didn’t even have to look for her to shoot me.” Her mouth clamped shut and she squeezed her eyes shut as soon as the words left her mouth. Sombra didn’t even have to see to know Silvia was pissed.

“She was the one that shot you?” Silvia was already half-way out of her seat, cracking her knuckles in anticipation. “Let’s see how she likes getting fucked up.”

“Woah, woah.” Sombra had to jump a bit to reach Silvia. Her hand was quick to grab her sister’s arm. Somehow, she was able to pull her back. “I know how it sounds. Please, sit down. She’s sleeping.”

“Even better. She got you when you weren’t looking. I can return the favor.”

“No, no, no. That’s the opposite of what I asked.”

Silvia yanked her arm away and seethed at the floor. She wanted to walk into that room so badly and ring the woman’s neck. But here was her sister asking her not to. Nothing but infuriating. “What? So, I should pretend she didn’t hurt you? That she’s not dragging you on some crazy stunt for her benefit?”

“I _want_ to help her. The bottom line is that she asked for help and I said yes.” Sombra lifted her tank top, showing off the scar. “I put this behind me. You should too.”

Angry eyes continued to stare at the ground. She refused to look at Sombra, knowing it’d be harder to say no if she did. But then there were arms around her waist and Sombra had her head nestled in her shirt. It was entirely unfair.

“Te quiero.”

“Stop that.”

“Te quiero.” Sombra squeezed her arms tighter. She could feel Silvia’s pulse from how close they were. “Please. Do it for me.” A couple droplets of tears splashed onto her arm. Sombra started rubbing Silvia’s back in a soothing gesture. It took a lot for her to cry.

“I don’t want anything to happen to you.” The tears were flowing freely at that point. Every bit of frustration spilling out. “You’re one of the few people I get to call family and I’d hate myself if I let that woman get you killed.”

“I promise I’m not gonna die.”

“You can’t promise that.” A new wave of tears came trickling down her face. “Idiot.” Silvia buried her head in Sombra’s shoulders, hugging her sister back. “Idiot.”

“I know.” Sombra took a deep breath, trying her best not to cry as well. It was hard to keep the tears at bay when the strongest person she knew was a crying mess in her arms. “I know.”

-

After a couple more hours of watching tv together, Silvia left with Martín. Josefina had called saying she needed them to work. Widowmaker conveniently stepped out of the bedroom as soon as the front door shut.

“Nice shirt.”

Widowmaker spared a glance at the shirt she was wearing. It had a collage of puppies on it. Being honest with herself, she didn’t even look at the shirt when she put it on. Puppies weren’t exactly her choice of fashion, but she wasn’t about to ask for another shirt.

After Widowmaker frowned at the shirt comment Sombra decided to change the subject. “You hungry? I could make you something.”

“You? Cooking? I didn’t know you knew how.”

Somehow that struck a nerve. “Of course I know how.” Sombra crossed her arms. “I just prefer not to.”

Widowmaker crossed her arms as well, giving Sombra a disbelieving look. “Show me.”

Sombra bent down and pulled out her giant tub of rice she had in the bottom cabinet. She dropped in onto the counter and smirked at Widowmaker. “I don’t do this for anyone so count yourself lucky.”

“We’ll see how lucky I am.” Widowmaker climbed onto the opposite counter and watched Sombra cook. Her attention was on the way Sombra would sing to herself the whole time, a personal concert for the food on the stove. She didn’t notice how much time passed until Sombra held a steaming plate in front of her.

“I put extra on your plate because I know you’re going to want more.” Sombra hopped up on the counter next to Widowmaker and dug into her own plate of food.

The food smelled fine and Widowmaker had no reason to believe that it was anything but good judging by the way Sombra scarfed down her plate. She took a bite, going back for more when the flavor kickstarted her appetite.

“Good?” Sombra waited in eager anticipation for a response.

Widowmaker put down her spoon and leaned over. She wiped away a stray piece of rice stuck to Sombra’s bottom lip, smiling at the embarrassed reaction. “It might be better than my cooking.”

A smirk wormed its way onto Sombra’s face. She didn’t even try to hide it. “You’re not saying that to get me to cook for you, are you?”

A shrug. Widowmaker turned away from Sombra and ate another spoonful. “It wouldn’t be the worst idea.”

“Keep on with the compliments and I’ll consider it.”

 

 


	4. How Romantic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I last updated but here's something I whipped up that'll get things going again. As always, much thanks to my beta metalwarrior22.

Two knocks sounded on the door. Sombra heard someone come in and she pressed the blanket covering her eyes tighter against her face.

“Isn’t it supposed to be tomorrow?” Sombra asked beneath her sheet fortress.

“We agreed it started today.”

Sombra pulled the blanket down and squinted at Widowmaker. “Rain check?”

Silence.

“Okay, how about I get to work with you first?”

“Reyes is already waiting. If you make him wait any longer he will leave.”

“Does that mean I get to practice with Akande instead?”

“He’s working.”

Sombra let out a deep breath and sat up. She wasn’t thrilled Widowmaker asked Reyes to be her sparring partner since she never seemed to say the right thing around the guy. The only thing making her get up from bed was the fact that she was tired of getting her ass kicked. She was a runner, not a fighter and it became increasingly clear she needed to learn to hit back.

She hopped out of bed. “You mind walking me over at least?” Sombra grabbed some clothes from the dresser and disappeared into the small bathroom that came with the room she picked. Surprise colored her eyes when Widowmaker was still standing in the room when she left the bathroom.

They walked out of Sombra’s room, Widowmaker leading the way to where Gabriel was waiting. As soon as Sombra walked inside the practice room and saw Gabriel standing on the mats with his arms crossed, she fell to her hands and knees and laughed.

“What the hell are you wearing?” She looked up with tears in her eyes, laughing even harder as she wiped them away.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “We’re going to be fighting dirty, I don’t actually want to feel it when you hit me in the balls.” He gestured to the padded diaper-like contraption he was wearing.

Sombra stood up and wiped the rest of the tears away. “You’re gonna have me hit you in the balls?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

Sombra looked to Widowmaker. “You didn’t tell me this. I would have gotten up sooner.”

Widowmaker shrugged. She turned away with her arms crossed and walked to the exit. “Gun range at noon.” She left without hearing an answer.

Focusing back on Gabriel Sombra stepped closer to him. “What’s the plan for today?”

“Right now, I’m going to teach you how to escape if someone grabs you from behind.” He held up three fingers. “If your hands are trapped when someone grabs hold of you from behind there are three ways I’ll teach you to get free.” He lifted another finger. “There’s also one more technique if your hands aren’t trapped.”

Gabriel had Sombra stand closer. “First we’ll go over the first thing you’ll do for every one of these techniques. You need to drop your body weight forward as soon as someone grabs you. This is to prevent whoever it is from lifting and taking you. Let’s practice that.”

Sombra nodded and watched Gabriel step behind her from the corner of her eye. As soon as his hand wrapped around her waist she leaned forward and dug her feet into the mats. It wasn’t enough as evident by her screech as she was lifted into the air with ease.

“Lean forward more.” Gabriel let go and let Sombra reset.

He grabbed her again and Sombra pushed herself forward, straining against his grasp as Gabriel tried to lift her up. After a couple more seconds of struggling he let go.

“That’s good.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist again, keeping her arms out of the hold. She dropped her center of gravity forward. “When your arms are free like this, you’ll need to swing them back. Reach far enough behind to strike your attacker in the face. Alternate between both elbows until they let you go. Just please don’t actually elbow me in the face.”

Sombra swung her arm back but her elbow didn’t get any reach. She tried again with the other elbow and failed. Gabriel let go and started laughing.

“It’s like you’re a toddler trying to get down.” He stood back up and wrapped his arms around Sombra’s waist again. “Move into it, you’ll get more range.”

She tried again, twisting her body with her elbow. She stopped when she felt his cheek and then tried it with her other elbow. After a few more swings of her elbow, Gabriel let go.

“Better. Let’s try it again putting it all together.”

Once Gabriel grabbed her again, Sombra moved forward and twisted her elbow back until she felt skin, alternating between elbows until he let go. They practiced that a few times. He let her take a break once she got comfortable with the move.

After the break he showed her a similar move where her arms were trapped. She had to break one arm free and elbow him until she could get him to let go. He told her to hit him as hard as she could because he was pretty sure he could withstand her baby hits. He backed away when she slammed her elbow as hard as she could into his chest.

“How’s that for a baby hit?”

He was wheezing. “You hit like a toddler.”

Sombra crossed her arms. “You okay there Gabe? Looks like that toddler got you good.”

He held up a finger. “One moment, I’m still laughing.” He gave a pained smile and a clipped laughed.

It took a few more minutes for Gabriel to shake off the pain. When he was ready to go again, he had Sombra in the same position as before.

“You’re going to stomp on your attacker’s foot. Create some space between you and them so that you can move your hips to the side and expose access to their groin. Like with the elbows, please don’t actually stomp my foot. Just stomp around my foot, hard. I’ll move if I think it’s hard enough.”

While Sombra was leaned forward, she stomped the mat. She did it a few more times but he didn’t move.

“Are you messing with me Gabe?”

“Are you serious with those stomps?”

Sombra frowned and stomped again, except this time she connected with his foot. He immediately backed away.

“Fuck.”

“Like that?” She smirked.

Gabriel grumbled to himself but reset their position. “Again.”

She stomped the mat again and he created some room. Sombra moved her hips to one side and then was at a loss on what to do next. “Is this where I hit you in the balls?”

“Yeah. A good way is to hammer fist until they let go.” He showed her the basic movement and they reset to try it all at once.

Sombra smiled as she balled her fist, since he was wearing padding, she put as much power into her strikes as she could. There were times where she ended up breaking down in laugher when he yelled at her to hit him harder in the balls. He didn’t seem satisfied until she was panting in exhaustion.

“I think that’s enough.” Gabriel walked to the other side of the room and tossed Sombra a bottle of water. “This last one is the trickiest. When I grab you, you’re going to grab my hands and use one of your shoulders to move my grip up and over. Then you slide out.”

“What do I do when I slide out? Kick you in the balls?”

He shrugged. “If you can. It’s better just to put some distance.”

Sombra smiled. “Keep that diaper thing on because I’m gonna go for it.”

Gabriel cracked his knuckles. “We’ll see.”

They set up the position and Sombra grabbed his hand. She tried to move her shoulder but her grip on his hands fell and they had to reset. They tried over and over again until she was able to slide out of his hold. With each escape, she attempted the groin kick but he jumped out of the way each time.

The last time they tried it Sombra slid out and just stood there. “I think I’m done trying.”

He relaxed.

Sombra spun around and surged forward. Gabriel tried to back away but her foot was already in contact with the padding. He grimaced but then smirked.

“Pretty good.”

“Fighting dirty right?”

“That’s the idea.” He looked over to the clock in the room. “I think that’s good for today.”

“Really?” She cocked her head in confusion. “You’re not going to teach me what to do when I get out of the hold?”

Gabriel furrowed his brows. “You shoot them. Get out, create space, and shoot. Fight dirty.”

Her lips formed a circle. “Oh.”

“Tomorrow you’ll learn more but the whole point is to get away so you can shoot them.” He nodded towards the exit. “She’s going to teach you that part.”

“What happens if I don’t have a gun?”

“Then just get the hell away.”

A fair point. She was ridiculously good at running. Sombra raised her hands up in mock surrender. “Alright, got it.” She picked up her water bottle and downed the rest of it. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” With a wave she left the room and headed back to her room.

After a quick shower, Sombra slept for a couple of hours and woke up to her alarm in a daze. She left her room and stumbled along to the shooting range, still barely awake from her nap. When she saw Widowmaker was already there and hitting targets with deadly precision, the drowsiness left her body.

“I didn’t expect you to be early.”

Sombra shrugged. “I wanted to impress a girl.”

Widowmaker shook her head at the comment and put her rifle down. She pointed to a bench and Sombra spotted an unloaded gun with the slide pulled back. A magazine of ammo sitting next to it. “You ever used one before?”

“Silvia let me shoot hers a couple times,” she walked over to the bench, “but that’s about it. I never needed one because I’m never seen.”

Widowmaker stood in thought. “I want you to start carrying one after today. Whatever Los Muertos had you doing doesn’t compare to our assignments.”

A ghost of pain ran through Sombra’s abdomen as she remembered all her encounters so far with Talon. She rubbed her scars through her shirt to settle the ache. “I noticed.”

Picking up the gun with her right hand, Widowmaker addressed Sombra as she grabbed the magazine with her left hand. “When you’re loading a gun, always pick it up with your dominant hand.” She shoved the magazine in the gun. “Once the magazine is loaded, you can either press the side release with your thumb,” the slide moved forward when Widowmaker pressed the release. She pulled the slide back and a single round popped out, “or you can pull the slide back and let go,” Widowmaker demonstrated the technique and the slide moved forward, “and then you have a chambered round.”

“To unload the gun,” Widowmaker pointed to a small button on the gun, “pull back on the magazine release with your thumb and catch the magazine.” The magazine fell from the gun and Widowmaker caught it with her left hand. “Then you pull back on the slide to clear the chamber. You’re going to want to check to confirm the chamber is empty.” She pulled back on the slide and a bullet sprang out, landing on the floor. She gave the chamber a glance and set the gun down on the bench. “You try it.”

Sombra mimicked the demonstration perfectly, setting the unloaded gun down on the bench when she was done. “What’s next?”

“Your stance.” Widowmaker quickly reloaded the gun and demonstrated how Sombra was supposed to stand. “Feet apart, shooting foot slightly behind your support foot with your knees flexed. Lean forward some and have your arms straight out. You want to be able to move at any moment. Standing back leaves you an open target when you need to be on the run.” She relaxed her posture and handed the gun to Sombra. “When you’re holding the gun, have the non-firing hand cup the other. Do not wrap your thumbs behind the slide, it won’t end well when you shoot.”

Sombra took the gun and tried her best to apply everything Widowmaker showed her. Widowmaker had to make slight adjustments to her posture but she seemed satisfied with most of it.

“When you align the sights, the front sight should be at the center of the rear sight, both at the same height.” Widowmaker pushed Sombra’s hand slightly to the side, right in line with the paper target. “When both sights are aligned, focus on the front sight. While the target and the rear sight will get blurry, the front sight should be crystal clear.”

Sombra absentmindedly stuck her tongue out as she aligned the sights to the best of her ability. When she was confident that she got it down, she asked, “Is this where I shoot?”

“Yes, but always make sure to realign your sights before shooting again. As you practice, it becomes faster to do.”

Sombra pressed the trigger, shooting the target in the abdomen. She adjusted the sights back and fired again. After a third shot, she turned back with a satisfied smile. “Was that good?”

A nod.

She turned back and practiced for longer, adjusting when Widowmaker spoke up with some improvements. When she was done, she went to unload the gun but Widowmaker stopped her.

“Keep it loaded.”

Sombra shrugged and handed the gun back to Widowmaker. She refused to take it.

“You keep it. Get used to having it around.”

“Where should I put it?”

“Sock drawer?”

Sombra frowned. “Where do you keep yours?”

A smile. Widowmaker walked back to her bench and came back with something. A holster. She tossed it to Sombra. “Here.”

Sombra caught the holster and looked at the clips. It seemed intuitive enough. She slid it on her waistband, noting how comfortable it felt against her skin. “Comfy.” Slipping the gun in the holster, Sombra covered it with her shirt. “Thanks.”

Eyeing the clock, Sombra saw that they were there for an hour and a half. A question came to mind when she focused back to see Widowmaker dismantling her rifle. “Do you have any assignments today?” She smiled, scratching at the back of her head. “I don’t have anything until the end of the week.”

“I know.” Widowmaker shut her rifle case and dragged it off the bench. “I asked them not to give you any more work until you improve.”

Sombra laughed. “You have that much faith that I’ll be a badass by Saturday?”

“Doesn’t matter, I need you then.”

“What’s happening Saturday?” Sombra straightened up.

“Maximilien has an assignment for me and I need it to fail.”

It clicked. “You want me to take the fall for this.”

Widowmaker shifted her gaze away from Sombra. “This is… Time sensitive. If I succeed, Maximilien leaves Mexico. If, somehow, this fails, he’s stuck here for another three months.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm down the frustration that bled out into her voice. “I can’t fail. He’ll know something’s up.” She looked back to Sombra. “But if you do it, it’s chalked up to a rookie mistake.”

“And I get my ass killed. Isn’t that what you told me?”

“That won’t happen.”

Sombra crossed her arms. “And why’s that?”

“Because I’ll tell him you’re my girlfriend.”

For some reason, that was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Sombra bent over in laughter, unable to control her knees from buckling. “What kind of fucking excuse…” When she peered back to Widowmaker, she saw the seriousness in her eyes. It was sharp, like she’d get cut at any moment. “You’re not kidding.” Sombra stood backup. “As nice as it would be to act as your fake girlfriend, how’s that gonna keep me from dying?”

“He just won’t.” Widowmaker stared furiously at the ground. An aura of anger surrounded her body. “Not after what happened.”

It became evident that all this was connected to the reason why Widowmaker wanted him dead. The reason she had yet to give. Sombra was patient so instead of trying to get the reason out of her, she considered the certainty in Widowmaker’s voice. “Are you sure?”

Widowmaker gave a curt nod.

“Then I’ll do it on one condition.”

Widowmaker slowly raised her head. “What do you want?”

A grin. “Another date. In addition to the one after killing your boss, I want one…” Sombra tapped her chin mock thought, “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Widowmaker’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I have no idea where to take you.”

Her grin widened. “You have all day to figure that out.”

Studying Sombra’s face, Widowmaker sighed. “Fine.”

Sombra backed up to the door. “Tomorrow then, mi amor.” She blew a kiss and walked out, leaving Widowmaker alone in the shooting range.

-

The next day Sombra reported in to Reyes with a pep in her step. They went over how to escape front bear holds. It only added to her day when she got to kick him in the balls again.

She lied on the mats after their session, smiling up at the ceiling.

“What’s got you so happy?”

“I have a date.”

Gabriel shook his head. “Forget I asked.”

Sombra turned around on the mats, a sly smile on her face as she watched him drink water. “Don’t you want to know who it is?”

He lowered his water bottle, a scowl on his face. “I really don’t care.”

“Not even if you knew it was our resident sweetheart?” “Sweetheart” rolled off her tongue dripping with sarcasm.

A crackle sounded in the room as Gabriel squeezed his water bottle tighter. “Lacroix?”

She nodded.

Gabriel’s eyes softened. He shook his head and walked towards the door. “Don’t play around with her, she’s been through a lot.” He left.

Sitting up, Sombra stared at the door, clearly aware that he knew more than she did.

-

At the shooting range, Sombra stood at her bench next to Widowmaker, cleaning her gun as instructed. “You found any places to take me?”

“Yes.”

Her lips tugged up in a smile. “Any place special?”

“I’d advise you to dress up. Let’s say we got a last-minute invitation.”

Excitement pulsed through her body. “Are we crashing some fancy party?”

Widowmaker smirked. She shrugged and put her rifle away.

Sombra watched Widowmaker walk away, her smile never leaving her lips.

-

A knock sounded on Sombra’s door at 8. She opened the door to find Widowmaker leaning against the doorway. Her hair was up in some intricate bun and she was wearing a dress that kept Sombra’s eyes lingering. She blinked in surprise when a thigh holster was held up to block her vision.

“You’re not serious, are you?”

“I am.”

Sombra grabbed the thigh holster and walked over to her dresser. She pulled out her gun and set it on top. As she slipped on the holster, Sombra took in how Widowmaker averted her gaze when she lifted her dress up. She smirked as she tucked the gun in the holster.

“Like what you see?”

Widowmaker kept her gaze averted but she held out an arm for Sombra to take. She ignored the question.

Sombra took hold of the offered arm and tried to hold back her obvious enjoyment of the flustered look covering Widowmaker’s face.

Once they were out of the building, Widowmaker spoke up.

“Reyes came to me earlier.”

She knew exactly what Widowmaker was bringing up. “Oh? What’d he have to say?”

“He told me what you said after your session and asked if it was true or not.”

Sombra wrapped her hand tighter around Widowmaker’s bicep. She liked where this was going. “And?”

“I told him you were my girlfriend.”

Gabriel’s face popped up in her mind. She could picture clearly the exasperated expression on his face as Widowmaker told her lie. “How’d that go?”

“He went on some rant on how sketchy you were and that I shouldn’t trust you.”

“Dear Gabe really said that? I’m hurt.”

“You’re loving this.”

A snicker. “I am.”

-

They were standing in line to get inside some rich snob’s party. They finally got the front and a man in all black asked them for an invitation.

Widowmaker made no move to look for one.

The man looked at her like she was stupid. “Invitación.”

Widowmaker reached into her dress and pulled out a bloody business card. She handed it to him. “¿Está bien?”

His face paled and he let them in.

As they slid past the bouncer, Sombra whispered in Widowmaker’s ear. “Damn, who’d you kill to make him look like that?”

“His boss.”

Sombra stopped them. “Then who in the hell’s house is this?”

“His boss wanted a party as his funeral.”

“You took me to a funeral as a date?”

“It’s a nice funeral. We can skip the part where he gets buried in the back yard if you want.”

Sombra laughed. “You are so damn romantic.” She grabbed Widowmaker’s hand and whisked her away towards the food.

They tried everything that was offered there. Sombra would give Widowmaker the more iffy foods to try first, only eating it when Widowmaker gave her approval. It only backfired once when Widowmaker purposefully lied just to get Sombra to eat something nasty.

When the music started playing, Sombra scarfed down the last of the food in her hand and dragged her date to the dance floor.

“Dance with me.”

Widowmaker looked down at their clasped hands but made no move to dance.

“Aw, come on. Is it because you don’t know the dance?” She let out a yelp when Widowmaker suddenly spun her around and dipped her low.

“I know all them.”

“Then you won’t mind if we pick up the pace.” Sombra grinned when Widowmaker obliged. Her head was spinning from joy as the adrenaline spread through her veins. She had no idea her date was good at dancing and she loved every bit of it.

After a while, their dancing became aimless when the music slowed down. They drifted away from the crowd and found themselves on the other side of the house. Sombra was pressed against a door and Widowmaker still had her arm wrapped around Sombra’s waist. Widowmaker was breathing heavy, her cheeks red from exertion. A smile graced Widowmaker’s face and Sombra was positive it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

Reaching behind her, Sombra grabbed hold of the door handle and pressed down on it. “I wonder where this door leads?” She was hoping for a spare bedroom but instead is was a dark set of stairs.

Widowmaker peered over Sombra’s shoulder and squinted at the darkness. “It looks like a wine cellar.”

She could work with that. “What’s a party without getting drunk?” Sombra held Widowmaker’s arm close around her waist and led them down the stairs. At the bottom, the cellar was illuminated by dim lights, showing rows of glinting bottles shelved neatly by year.

Sombra led them over to the shelves and plucked two random bottles from one. They sat down and Sombra handed a bottle to Widowmaker. She heard how quickly Widowmaker opened her bottle, the swishing of the liquid making it evident that Widowmaker already started drinking it. Once Sombra got her bottle open, she leaned her head against Widowmaker’s shoulder and took a sip. It was pretty good.

“The home I grew up in had a wine cellar. I’d go down there when I was a teenager in the middle of the night and get drunk in the dark. My mother found me there one night.”

“What happened?” Sombra held her bottle close, waiting in anticipation for the story to finish.

Widowmaker laughed. “She got drunk with me.”

“God I wish that’s what happened with me. My sister would take me out drinking on the roof. We’d get drunk off our ass and spend the night there. Mamá found us one day and she pulled us both by the ear back down and locked the door to the roof.”

Sombra sat up and schooled her face. She tried her best impression of Josefina. “¿Quieres morir?” She changed her voice to an impersonation of her younger self. “No mamá.” Sombra laughed. “That’s always what she’d ask me whenever I did something stupid.”

“Did she ask you that when you decided to help me?”

Sombra took another swig of her wine. “She hasn’t asked me that in a long time. Guess I grew out of it.”

They stayed quiet after that, giggling softly as they drank all the wine they could dream of. At one point, Sombra felt soft fingers running through her hair. They’d drift off to feel the shaved part of her head, making random patterns the longer they lingered.

“I like your hair like this.” Widowmaker gently tugged on the pink hair and saw that it reached just above Sombra’s cheek. “You should let it get longer.”

Her hand found Widowmaker’s and she pulled it down, interlocking their fingers. “The usual spikiness not doing it for you?”

Widowmaker laughed and shook her head. “It’s cute either way.” She stood up and pulled Sombra to her feet. “We should leave. The music stopped playing.”

On stumbling feet, Sombra let Widowmaker lead them up the stairs. They left the house a laughing mess, supporting each other from falling to the ground.

On the walk back, two men stepped out from the darkness and approached them. One of them pointed to Widowmaker. “No te muevas.”

Widowmaker laughed and leaned over. Small hiccups spilled from her lips.

The men pulled out guns, training them on Widowmaker. Sombra instantly felt sober.

Before Sombra could say anything, they both fell to the ground, blood spilling from their foreheads. Her ears ringed from the gunshots and she turned to Widowmaker, seeing the stone-cold expression on her date’s face.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Sombra grabbed Widowmaker’s hand and ran. They sprinted down different streets until a familiar destination came into view.

Sombra giggled as she opened the door to her apartment. She led Widowmaker to her room, stopping in the doorway when she spotted Silvia sleeping in her bed.

“Shit. I forgot I said she could stay here.” She covered up her mouth as another fit of laughter bubbled out. “We need to be quiet.”

With careful steps, Sombra grabbed a change of clothes for them and quickly pulled Widowmaker to the bathroom. As they changed, Widowmaker kept looking back to the bathroom door, brows furrowed in thought.

They tiptoed out of the bathroom in the dark and made it to the living room without incident. Sombra sat on the couch and patted the cushion next to her.

“The couch is free if you want to stay the night.”

Widowmaker nodded and sat down. She craned her over the back of the couch to stare at Sombra’s bedroom door.

“She’s not gonna come aft-”

“She loves you.” Widowmaker turned her head back and looked down at her hands. “I don’t have anyone like that anymore.”

It was hard to look at Widowmaker after she said that. To busy herself, Sombra got up and pulled out a blanket from a small closet. She draped it over Widowmaker’s shoulder and gave them a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you for tonight.” She pressed a kiss to Widowmaker’s forehead and left the living room after Widowmaker gave her a smile in return.

The door was slightly ajar when she reached her room. Her eyes locked with Silvia’s as she walked in. Sombra smiled and closed the door behind her. “Hey sleepyhead.” She climbed in next to Silvia and her smile widened when Silvia snuggled up to her.

“She doesn’t seem… All that bad.”

Sombra closed her eyes. “Yeah, she doesn’t.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a lot of research for this chapter but if I got something wrong, feel free to correct me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little heated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this updated. Many thanks to my beta metalwarrior22. Always being real with me. I super appreciate that.
> 
> Enjoy :)

Sombra instinctively reached out to slap away the nuisance trying to shake her awake. It didn’t work. The shaking continued followed by a pinch on her arm.

“Let me sleep.” Sombra rolled away from the offending touch, cocooning herself on the other side of her bed.

Her tormentor ripped the blankets away. “I’m cooking, get up.”

Sombra opened a bleary eye and watched Silvia walk out of her room with her warm blanket. She sat up when the door closed, rubbing away the sleep in her eyes with a tired groan.

A few minutes later she came out of her room wearing a hoodie to make up for her lost blanket. The hood was pulled low to block out as much light as possible. Sitting down at the counter, Sombra leaned against her arms and listened in on the conversation happening between Silvia and Widowmaker.

“So you shoot people for a living?”

“Yes.”

“Cool. Sometimes I gotta shoot people too. We, uh, have that in common.”

Sombra snickered at the attempt at small talk from Silvia. She caught Widowmaker’s attention, getting a weak smile when they made eye contact.

“Is Widowmaker the name you prefer to go by or are you like our Sombra here?” Silvia grabbed Sombra’s hood and pulled it further down. “Trying to blend in.”

“Amélie.”

Sombra lifted her head from the counter, suddenly very intrigued in the conversation as she pulled the hood away from her head.

Silvia noticed Sombra’s change in expression and crossed her arms. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know. You’re too nosy not to know.”

“No, I did know.” She put two and two together the first day she joined Talon. Her eyes flickered to Amélie. “I just didn’t know if it was okay for me to use it.”

Amélie regarded Sombra with a schooled expression. “It would be better if you started using it. Considering…” Her sentence trailed off as she turned away to lean her chin on her hand.

A slow smirk spread across Sombra’s face. “Considering I’m your girlfriend.”

Silvia turned around and headed back to the stove to check on the food. “Nope. I’m not buying it.”

“What? You don’t believe me?”

“I really don’t.” Silvia turned off the stove, transferring the sizzling pan onto a cool burner. She reached into the cabinets and pulled down three plates.

“I’m hot stuff. Completely irresistible.” Sombra turned to Amélie, motioning for her to agree.

“Mm.” Amélie gave a shrug that didn’t confirm or deny Sombra’s claims.

Silvia laughed. “See? Even your ‘girlfriend’ can’t agree with you.”

“She’s cute.”

The smirk returned to Sombra’s face at Amélie’s comment. It only grew when Silvia came over with her food, placing the plate down with a shake of her head. “Not so unbelievable now, huh?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Despite her comment, Silvia gave Sombra a small smile. Leaps and bounds from when she despised Amélie.

“Since you’re still up, can you make coffee?” asked Sombra.

Silvia bent down near Sombra and pinched her cheek. “You can get your cute ass up and do it yourself.”

Sombra slid off her stool, rubbing her cheek on her way to the cabinets. She opened the one where she kept the coffee and sighed. It was on the top shelf, exactly where she didn’t put it. “Tells me to make my own coffee but she doesn’t put it back where I can reach it.” Sombra hoisted herself onto the counter, using the stove as support.

“Watch it! It’s still ho-”

Before Silvia could finish her warning, Sombra immediately recoiled her hand and dropped down from the counter, clutching her wrist in pain. “Fuck.” The skin on her right palm turned red and bubbled with blisters.

Silvia pulled Sombra to the sink. She turned on the faucet and placed the burn under the cool water. “I told you to watch it.”

“Yeah, a little too late,” Sombra sneered out. As she tried to ignore the pain, Sombra searched the room for something distracting to look at. Her gaze fell on Amélie who seemed to go pale in the face. Amélie’s eyes focused on nothing but Sombra’s hand under the running water. “Hey, you okay?”

No response.

Sombra yanked her hand away and turned off the water. She made her way to Amélie who got paler with each step closer until Amélie climbed down from her stool, creating a barrier between them. Amélie never took her eyes off Sombra’s hand. “Is it the burn?”

One shaking nod was all Amélie responded with.

Sombra hid the burn behind her back and smiled. “Better?”

“You can’t keep it there forever.”

Sombra flinched when her burn rubbed against her hoodie. She recovered quickly, turning her grimace into a thoughtful expression. “Would it be better if I wrapped it up?”

“Yes.”

Twisting her neck to look back to the kitchen, Sombra found Silvia looking at them with furrowed brows. “Is my first aid kit good or did we use it all on you?”

“Ah,” Silvia walked to the other side of the counter and placed a plate in front of Amélie, “Me and Martín came by the other day and kind of cleaned you out.”

“Damn.” Sombra pulled her sleeve down, choosing to cover up her burn in the meantime.

Amélie grabbed her plate and took it to the stool at the end of the counter. She stared at her plate as she held onto her fork in a tight grip.

“You guys try and eat, I’ll go get another kit.” Silvia jogged to Sombra’s room, coming back out seconds later with shoes on. She left soon after.

Taking her seat at the opposite end of the counter, Sombra eyed Amélie through forkfuls of food. “Do you want to talk about it?” A long shot but she took it anyway.

Amélie moved her tense hand, finally eating after a long staring contest with her food. A convenient way to ignore the question.

“You don’t like burns?”

The fork Amélie held so tight clanked against the counter. Amélie looked in Sombra’s direction and Sombra felt her heart tighten at the sight of red-stained eyes barely able to hold back tears. “The stench when I see it… It’s all I can smell.”

Guilt pooled at the pit of Sombra’s stomach for even bringing up the discussion. “It’s okay if you don’t want to say anything else.”

Amélie nodded in thanks, going back to eating once silence settled over them again.

A few minutes later, Silvia came bursting through the front door, breathing heavily as she held up a bag in the air. She shut the door behind her with her foot and made her way to Sombra. Grabbing Sombra’s arm, Silvia dragged her off the stool and into Sombra’s room.

“What’s the deal with her?” Silvia brought Sombra to the bed and dumped the contents of the bag onto the sheets. She picked up the tube of ointment first.

“I don’t know.” Sombra flexed her hand at the cool touch of antibiotic cream Silvia spread across the burn.

“Must have been something fucked up.” Silvia took out the gauze from the first aid kit and loosely wrapped it around the burn.

“Yeah.” Sombra had a feeling the motivation for Amélie’s desire for revenge had everything to do with the incident at the counter. Despite wanting to know what happened in the past, dwelling on the issue would get her nowhere.

A sigh escaped Sombra’s lips as she waited for Silvia to finish the bandaging. She peered over at the clock and felt a jolt through her spine. “Shit, I gotta go. Gabe’s gonna get pissed if I’m late.”

“Late for what?”

A grin. “I’m learning how to kick your ass.”

Silvia tied off the gauze and frowned. “I’d like to see that happen.”

-

Sombra burst through the doors to the practice room, spotting Gabriel standing on the mats, his arms crossed and a scowl across his face.

“You’re late.”

“I know, I know.” Sombra lifted her hands in the air in mock surrender. “My date turned into a long night.” She craned her neck to see Amélie walking in behind her at a leisurely pace. “Wild night, right?”

Amélie nodded. She leaned in close to Sombra and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you at noon.”

Surprised, Sombra couldn’t help the grin spreading across her lips as she watched Amélie leave.

“Any day now.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sombra waved off the comment, trying her best to bask in her fake girlfriend bliss. “What’s the plan for today?”

“Palm strikes and we’re going over a knee snap.”

Sombra lifted her bandaged hand at the mention of palm strikes. “I burned my hand earlier.”

“Even better. If you’re hurt, your attacker isn’t going to wait for you to feel better.”

“Or, it might also be that you’re an asshole that likes to see me suffer.”

Gabriel shrugged. He pointed behind him to the edge of the mats. “You’re going to practice on the dummy for the palm strikes.” He lifted his hand and circled the inside of his palm. “Use the heel of your palm to hit the vulnerable areas on that dummy. Mainly the nose and under the chin. Hitting near the eyes also hurts.”

Sombra frowned. “I’m not gonna punch the thing?”

“You’ve got tiny wrists. They might break with punches.”

She couldn’t keep herself from laughing. “That’s too good. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Sombra stepped up to the dummy as she wiped away the tears that formed from her laughing fit. Gabriel walked up beside her and showed Sombra the basic motions. He came at the dummy from different angles, showing her the best way to strike.

“One more thing. Don’t twist your wrists to strike. They really will break if you do that.”

Sombra nodded as she took her stance in front of the dummy. Using the heel of her palm, she hit the dummy square on the nose. “Fuck!” She brought her hand back as if clutching it close to her chest would alleviate the pain from the aggravated burn.

Gabriel fell to the mats in laugher. “That was more satisfying to see than I thought.”

“Don’t be an asshole.”

“Again, again.” He didn’t even try to stop the laughing. “You can’t stop after one.”

It took a few tries but eventually, the pain became a non-issue, keeping Gabriel from laughing being her motivation. He stopped her after a while, satisfied that she knew the motions well.

“That’s good for now.” Gabriel walked to the wall and picked up what looked to be a hunk of padding. He brought it back to the mats. “If your opponent stands, they’ve got a knee that’s prone to snapping. When you kick the knee towards the inside, the body weight will help in snapping the knee clean. To do this, you’ll want to come out from the side and kick down into the knee so it buckles inward. You’re going to come at me and kick the shield I’ll be holding.”

“Aw, I don’t get to snap your knee?”

Gabriel picked up the kick shield with a deadpanned expression. “I know, it’s a shame.”

-

After her post ‘Gabe time’ shower and nap, Sombra walked into the shooting range a few minutes before noon. As soon as she spotted Amélie, she remembered something important.

“Shit, I forgot the gun you gave me at my place.”

Amélie remained quiet at the revelation. She reached into her waistband and pulled out a gun. “Use this one.”

Sombra took the gun while eyeing the other one lying on a bench. “How many of these do you have?”

A shrug. “Enough.” Amélie walked off to the side and leaned against the bench Sombra would be using. “You’ll be shooting again. Focus on grouping the shots together.”

“That’s it?”

“Mhm.”

Shrugging, Sombra stepped up to the bench and took her aim. She mostly got torso shots in, with a few odd shots hitting the head.

Sombra put the gun down when she couldn’t take the pain anymore. Gabe wasn’t there laughing at her to numb the pain away from pure spite alone. She held her burned hand close to her chest. “It stings.”

Amélie straightened up. She reached for Sombra’s hand but paused, grabbing the gun instead. “That’s enough.”

“I’ve only been here twenty minutes.”

“It’s enough.” Amélie tucked the gun away and moved towards the exit. She stopped at the door, eyeing Sombra from the threshold. “Go get your gun.”

-

Back at her apartment again, Sombra didn’t even need to take out her keys. From the front door, she could hear the TV blaring. Only one culprit came to mind. She opened the door and spotted Martín on the couch. He laughed at something on the TV before looking behind to see who was at the door.

“Stop drinking my beer Martín.” She homed in on the black eye he sported.

Martín grinned at the request. “Not gonna happen. You always get the good kind.”

“If you weren’t so cheap you’d have it too.”

“Why do I have to buy my own when my dear little sister has a stash she never drinks because she’s hardly home nowadays?”

Sombra flipped him off and headed to her room after Martín went back to watching his show unfazed by her show of affection.

Her and Amélie’s pile of clothes from last night were still on the bathroom floor. Sombra sorted through them, picking out her thigh holster from the heap. She took out the gun and stuffed it into the waistband holster she wore there.

Leaving her room, Sombra hopped over the back of the couch, sliding onto the cushion beside Martín. She swiped the bottle out of Martín’s hand and downed the rest of the drink. “Who fucked up your face?”

Martín stretched out his arms and put them behind his head. He seemed unbothered by the question. “No one important anymore.” A quick glance in Sombra’s direction had his eyebrows furrowed in shock. “What the hell…” He lifted Sombra’s shirt and pulled the gun out of the holster.

“Give that back.” Sombra reached for the gun, frowning when Martín held it just out of arm’s reach.

“This is dangerous you know.” He inspected it closely, eyes going wide at his findings. “And you have a chambered round. Who are you planning on shooting?”

“No one yet, give it back.”

“Hmm.” He stood up from the couch and tucked the gun away. “I’ll give it back to you if you do me a favor.”

Sombra followed Martín from the couch and lunged for him, getting angry when he backed up last second. “I don’t owe you shit, give it back.”

Martín frowned. “I need your help.” He pointed to his black eye. “The fucker didn’t tell me where his warehouse was. I need to find it before they ship out tonight.”

“Find it and do what?”

He grinned. “Light it up.”

Sombra held out her hand. “Give me the damn gun and I’ll help you.”

He handed it back to her with a sheepish smile.

Sombra snatched the gun back and stuffed it into her holster. Spinning around she crossed the room to the front door, stepping outside after opening it. “Next time just ask me. You don’t need to act like an asshole.” She continued walking when she heard Martín catching up to her. “And lock the door.”

-

Martín parked his car leaned against the steering wheel. He pointed his chin towards the building in the distance. “That’s it?”

“Yeah.” Sombra tossed Martín the broken phone he gave her earlier. “That’s where his buddy’s been texting me from.”

“Okay.” Sighing, Martín straightened up and drove back from where they came from.

They played cards for a couple of hours, where Sombra earned two dinners and a couple of favors and Martín got an undisclosed amount of bitcoin, until it got dark. Martín drove back to the warehouse with his headlights off, taking a longer route to sneak to the back.

Martín parked the car and pulled a duffel bag out of the back. He got out and motioned for Sombra to follow when he closed the door. They sneaked to a back entrance where there was only one person on guard and minimal light.

Putting his bag down, Martín motioned for Sombra to stay quiet. He stuck to the shadows as she moved towards the guard. When he got close enough to reach, Martín grabbed the guard, clamping his hand over the other man’s mouth. He used his other hand to slam the guard’s head against the wall. The guard slumped to the ground as soon as he let go, dropping the assault rifle he never got to use.

Martín shook the rifle out of the unconscious man’s hands and walked back to Sombra with a smile on his face. He stuffed the gun into the duffel bag, mentioning how “these people have the laziest lookouts.” He tossed the duffel bag strap over his shoulder and tested one of the drain pipes on the side of the building. He climbed up the pipe, using a windowsill as a resting point before pulling himself up to the roof. Poking his head over the side, he motioned for Sombra to follow.

Sombra shook her head no as she motioned with wild abandon at the pipe. “I can’t fucking climb that,” she spat out in a harsh whisper. Martín waved for her to come up anyway. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the pipe. Sombra held on tightly as she searched for any footholds she could find in the darkness. Route secured, she attempted to climb, slipping a few times before finding a good rhythm. By the time Sombra got to the windowsill, she had already slipped four times and desperately wanted to get down. Martín pulled her the rest of the way up when she got close enough.

“Okay, what now?” Sombra sat down on the roof, breathing heavily into the night air. She barely had time to react as a drill came flying at her. Sombra caught it in her arms, clutching it tightly to her chest in relieved surprise that it didn’t hit her in the head. She examined the drill once her spike of adrenaline wore off. “What’s this for?”

“Opening the vents.”

“Won’t they hear us?”

Martín shook his head. He pressed his ear to a vent. “Listen.”

Sombra focused her hearing, picking up a familiar sound. Music. Loud music.

“They’re blasting that shit. They won’t hear us.”

They drilled the vents open. Sombra got paranoid each time a screw fell against the metal roof but her fears were unfounded when no one came to check on them. Martín pulled two small containers and handed one to Sombra. Gasoline. He poured some into one of the vents and encouraged her to do the same. Once they ran out of gas, they sat on the roof and waited for it to spread through the air vents.

“You do this often?” Sombra arched an eyebrow as a man cursed loudly on his way out of the building.

“No, this is a special case.”

“But you’ve done it before.”

“Yeah.”

As she heard more cursing men exiting the building something clicked. “That was you with that huge heroin ring a couple years back. One day you’re hearing all about the shit they did and the next they go up in smoke.”

A nod.

Sombra laughed. “I forgot what they were called.”

“Good.” Martín got up and pulled a matchbook from his pocket, casually sending a lit match into each air vent. Smoke came tunneling out along with a cacophony of screaming and angry yelling. People came pouring out of the building. “Let’s get down from here.”

After they got to the ground, Martín walked up to the unconscious guard and slapped him awake. He told the man to leave. When the guard was out of sight, Martín pulled two bottles from his bag. As he uncapped them, the smell of alcohol and oil spilled out. He poured some of the mixture onto two strips of cloth, sticking them into each bottle before corking them in place. Martín opened the unguarded door and lit one of the corked cloths. He tossed the bottle in and slammed the door shut.

They made their way towards the front entrance where most of the chaos was happening. Martín picked up a rock and broke a window. He tossed the second bottle he lit through the broken glass and grabbed Sombra’s hand as he took off in a run towards the car.

Martín drove them farther away but stopped the car on the side of the road when they were a good enough distance away. He got out and sat on the hood, watching the fire burn brightly in the night as sirens sounded from down the road. Sombra got out as well, joining him on the hood.

“What’d they do to piss you off?” Sombra peeked at Martín’s black eye, wondering if that punch was what set him off.

Martín wrung his hands together, frowning as he bowed his head. “Those drug lords…” He lifted his gaze, glaring intently at the fire, “They’re all trash.”

Sombra glanced back at the fire, sensing that there was more to it.

“Everything they touch burns.” Martín dropped his head again, squeezing his fingers together to the point his hands shook. “They can burn instead.”

Sombra didn’t comment. She’d never seen him cry before but the tears brimming in his eyes told her that it was best to drop the subject. “Okay.”

-

Martín parked his car by Sombra’s apartment. They sat there in silence as the smell of gas reminded them on what they just did.

“Thanks for the help.”

Sombra bit her lip, nodding at the gratitude. She went to open her door but dropped her hand to her lap. “How do you act so…” The question trailed off as she felt silly for even asking.

“Act so what?”

“Like such a badass. Like you’re not afraid of anything. I know I make fun of you a lot but I’ve never seen you scared.”

Martín frowned. He crossed his arms, picking up on her anxiety. “What’s going on?”

Sombra gave a weak laugh. “Am I that obvious?”

“It’s my job to have you figured out. I can’t be the protective brother if I suck at my job.”

“That’s Silvia’s job.”

A shrug. “It’s my job too, I’ve just been slacking since she does it better.”

Sombra sighed. “I’ve got a thing coming up. Saturday. I don’t know, I just have a bad feeling is all.”

Humming to himself, Martín pretended to ponder her response for a few seconds. “Don’t go then.”

“I’m not going to flake. I made a promise.”

“Is that what the gun’s for?”

“No. I mean, probably not.”

Martín leaned back against his seat, regarding Sombra with tired eyes. “It’s not that I don’t get scared. It’s just that the job’s more important than being scared.”

“That’s it?”

“If it’s important to you, getting scared is the last thing on your mind.”

“That sounds like bullshit.”

“Maybe I’m not that much of a badass then.”

Shaking her head, Sombra got out of the car. “I’ll see you later.”

Martín waved at Sombra through the window after she shut the door and he drove off.

-

Saturday rolled around and Sombra found herself face down and pressed against the mats. Gabriel was off on an assignment so Sombra convinced Amélie to do a session with her instead.

“I like this much better.” Sombra’s arm hurt from the strain of being pulled at an unnatural angle but the hand at the back of her neck gave a pleasant tingle that overshadowed the whole arm thing.

Amélie let go of Sombra and sat back on the mats. Sombra could feel the eyeroll directed at her as she scrambled to sit up. It only made her grin that much wider. Even more so when Amélie adopted a small smile of her own at Sombra’s expression.

Focusing her attention on the clock behind Sombra, Amélie kept quiet as her breathing evened out.

“So, this thing we’re supposed to do… You know.”

Amélie kept quiet as Sombra tried to bring up their change to the assignment. She stayed transfixed on the clock.

Sombra scooched closer and waved a hand in front of the distracted woman. “Hey, are you listening?” She tapped Amélie on the forehead, feeling the sweat dotting Amélie’s skin.

Amélie seemed to snap out of it as she focused back on Sombra. She took Sombra’s hand into her own, her fingers tracing over the burn. “Is your hand okay?”

That answered the question on whether Amélie was paying attention earlier. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

Amélie stood up and pulled Sombra up with her. She moved in close, wrapping an arm around her waist. Her lips hovered by Sombra’s ear as she spoke. “We’ll talk later.” Pressing a kiss to Sombra’s cheek, Amélie let go and walked away.

Spinning around, Sombra spotted Akande waiting by the door. Amélie stopped next to him and they left a moment later. Maybe Amélie was paying attention the whole time.

-

A knock sounded at Sombra’s door a few hours later. Amélie walked in, closing the door quietly behind her. She tossed a phone to Sombra.

“Use that to clone the target’s contact’s phone. You know to change their meeting location to another spot. Where I’m set up.”

“Except I’m supposed to make a mistake so you’ll be waiting all night for a no-show.”

“By the time he’s supposed to be dead, he should be on his flight out of the country once he realizes his meeting was compromised.”

“And then that’s when everyone comes after my head when they realize I’m the one that fucked up the assignment.”

“Nothing will happen to you if that happens.”

“Yeah, yeah. Apparently, if I’m dating you, I’m immune to death.”

Amélie went to leave, stopping before opening the door. “They won’t do that to me again.” She left as quietly as she came.

Sombra stood staring at the door, wondering what Amélie meant by ‘again.’

-

Sombra put her coffee down as her target entered the restaurant. The same place he frequented to eat dinner every Saturday. She trailed him from the corner of her eye, spotting him taking a seat at the bar. Leaving her half-empty coffee at the table, Sombra approached the bar and ordered a drink. She put her phone down by the target, careful to ‘accidentally’ bump against his arm.

“I’m sorry.”

The target looked up from his drink and waved off the incident. “Don’t worry about it.”

Sombra pointed to his drink. “Is it good?”

He laughed. “Best drink in the city.”

“I’m not much of a drinker so I never know what to get.” She was lying through her teeth but figured it was the best way to get him to talk to her longer.

Sombra schooled her face into a smile as he went off on an entirely too long spiel on the types of drinks she would probably like. She wanted to leave so badly and gladly took the opportunity when her phone vibrated. She thanked the target for the thoughtful advice and stepped away from the bar.

She left the restaurant relieved to have gotten the first part over with. When she got to the motel room she booked earlier, Sombra hooked up the phone to her laptop. As the voice samples she captured ran through the voice changing software, she watched some movie playing on the TV to pass the time.

When her laptop dinged, Sombra grabbed her headset and tested out the voice. She sounded just like the target’s contact. Dialing the number from the cloned phone, she waited for the target to answer. He picked up after a few rings.

Sombra apologized to the target, saying that they needed to move the meeting spot because the original spot was compromised. She made up some excuse that seemed plausible and the target agreed to meet at a new spot. When they ended the call, she fell back on the bed and tossed her headset off and stared up at the ceiling, trying her best to get over the anxiety sneaking its way through her system. She had a bad feeling.

-

It was 1 in the morning when Sombra got back to base. She hesitated to go inside when she saw three black cars she’d never seen before parked outside.

“Fuck.”

She paced in place for a few seconds but decided to go in when she figured that the longer she took, the guiltier she would appear. Still, she didn’t want to go in there without getting something she could use. Taking out her phone, she scanned for Bluetooth signals, smiling when a few unrecognized signals appeared onscreen. She put the phone back, her software already rooting around for what she needed.

As she stepped inside she immediately noticed three people she’d never seen before. Dressed identically, they each had the same height and build complete with matching masks.

One of the masked men pointed to Sombra. “That one.”

Someone grabbed her from behind and before she could even react, toppled her to her knees. They pulled her hair back, forcing her to look up at the masked men. Sombra could see Amélie standing off to the side with her rifle leaning against her shoulder.

Amélie’s eyes were wide, visibly distraught at the situation. She tried to get to Sombra but was stopped as one of the masked men lifted his hand in a halting gesture.

“And tell me again what happened?”

“The target never showed.” Amélie’s voice wavered slightly.

The masked man that addressed Amélie focused on Sombra and hummed at the answer. “We spotted the target at the airport, he seemed in such a hurry. Wouldn’t you say that’s too convenient?” He stared down at Sombra obviously expecting a response.

“No?” Sombra didn’t want to say much, afraid that she’d fuck it all up and end up dead. The person holding her down pulled on her arm, twisting it painfully. Obviously, she gave the wrong answer.  She clenched her teeth to stay quiet.

“You sabotaged the plan.”

“I told him the exact location he was supposed to be at.”

“Except he never showed.”

“Maybe he’s smarter than you thought.”

“Or maybe, and I think this explanation is the more plausible of the two, you’re lying. You had something to gain from this.” The masked man reached behind him and pulled out a gun. He aimed it straight at Sombra’s head. “I don’t like it when people try to fuck me over.”

“I swear to god, I told him everything exactly the way I was supposed to.”

“Maybe you’re telling the truth,” the man shrugged, “but I don’t want to take that risk.” His finger twitched and Amélie dropped her rifle. The loud clanging gained his attention.

Amélie took advantage of the opportunity and hurried to Sombra, tears in her eyes. She slapped the hand holding Sombra by the hair away and held Sombra tight. Cold tears dripped onto Sombra’s neck. “Don’t.” Her voice quivered. “Please don’t.”

Sombra stared wide-eyed at the gun still pointed at her, instinctively wrapping her free arm around Amélie for any sort of comfort. Whatever angle Amélie was trying to work, Sombra grew doubtful of its success the longer time stretched on.

“Please.” Amélie pleaded once more, her whole body shaking as she cried harder.

The masked man standing off to the right of the trio signaled for the one with the gun to lower it. “Perhaps it’s as she said. We will just have to be more careful next time. It’s a minor setback.” He snapped his fingers and the person holding Sombra down finally let go.

Amélie squeezed Sombra’s face between her hands before leaning in to kiss her.

“We’ll be leaving. It seems that we’re interrupting a touching moment.”

As soon as the men left, Sombra’s shoulders drooped in relief. Amélie pulled away and helped Sombra up. She led them to Sombra’s room, squeezing her hand when they got inside.

“It worked. It fucking worked.” Sombra grinned up at the ceiling. “I don’t know how you were able to cry on command like that but that was damn good.” She received an eyeroll as Amélie wiped away the tears staining her cheeks.

Pulling out her phone, Sombra grinned. She held it out. “Look what I got.”

Amélie reached for the phone, frowning when Sombra pulled it away at the last minute.

“First you need to tell me who the fuck those guys were.”

“One of them was Maximilien.”

“And the other two?”

“They keep his identity hidden.”

Sombra gave Amélie her phone, satisfied with the answers. Three GPS coordinates were shown getting farther away.

“Which one is which.” Amélie held the phone in her hand tightly, highly interested in the moving coordinates.

“We’ll just have to find out.”

They left the building and Amélie led them to a covered motorcycle. She handed Sombra the helmet and got on, starting the bike when Sombra held onto her. They sped off towards the closest coordinates. They were able to catch up within twenty minutes.

Sombra spotted the familiar black car as they approached it on the empty road. She held onto Amélie tighter when she heard gunshots. They came from Amélie’s handgun. Amélie managed to hit the front tire and followed the car until it started to swerve off-road.

When the car stopped, Amélie stepped off the bike, her gun trained on the car window. She ripped the driver’s door open and pulled out one of the masked men. She tore his mask off, throwing it to the ground in frustration. “Fuck.”

“What is it?” Sombra eyed the scared man from behind the helmet.

“This isn’t him.” The man slowly reached for his gun. Amélie shot him in the foot. “Move again and you’re dead.”

He dropped his hand, face contorted in pain.

“Where is he?”

“Fuck you.”

Amélie stomped on his bloodied foot. “Where is he?”

The man stayed quiet.

Amélie threw him to the ground, visibly pissed off. “Fuck.” She dropped to her knees, grabbing a fistful of hair in frustration.

Sombra noticed the man move, how he reached for his gun.

The gunshot brought Amélie out of her irritated state. She stared down at the dead man, gun hanging loosely in his hand.

Sombra lowered her gun, completely in shock. “He was gonna…”

Amélie stood up and walked over to Sombra. She took off the helmet, squeezing it between her hands as she regarded Sombra. “It’s okay.”

“Are you sure?” Maybe she should have thought that through. But then again, with the situation being what it was, they were fucked either way. “Aren’t they going to know it was us?”

“Not if we make it look like something else happened.”

Sombra regarded the body. “I know someone who can help.”

Half an hour later, Martín drove up to where they were on the side of the road. He parked his car on the other side of the dead man’s and got out. Sombra already gave him the details over the phone so he was unfazed at the scene.

“You made a big mess here little sis.”

“Just help me with it before someone realizes there is a dead man on the side of the road and calls the police.”

“First thing first. We need to change the tire.” Martín pulled on a pair of gloves and opened the black car. He popped open the trunk and took out the spare tire and the jack. “While I’m doing this, I want you two to take his wallet, watch, phone, and anything else that looks valuable. Leave the gun.”

After essentially looting the body, Amélie put the dead man’s mask back on as well. Martín threw the blown-out tire into his trunk and put away the tools he used back exactly where he found them. He examined the body and sighed.

“Who shot him in the foot?”

Sombra pointed to Amélie, happy she wasn’t the one in trouble.

“The shot to the chest went through but there’s still a bullet in the foot.” He sighed as he went back to his car, coming back with a small bag. Martín pulled out some medical instruments and kneeled by the dead man. He took off the damaged shoe and got to work removing the bullet. When it came out, he put it in his pocket and put the man’s shoe back on. Martín took his own gun out and shot the foot again right where Amélie’s bullet was. “Different bullet that won’t get traced back to you,” he explained when Sombra looked at him questioningly.

Martín produced a bottle of bleach from his passenger side seat and held up a rag. “We’re going to take out anything from the car that looks valuable. Wipe anything that you touch.”

They took the radio, pried open the glove box, and emptied out a briefcase, taking all the money that fell out of it and leaving all the papers. Martín went back to the trunk and tossed some things to the ground, making a big mess on purpose. They wiped everything they touched afterward, even giving the mask a good rub down just in case.

Taking off his gloves, Martín nodded in satisfaction. “I think that spells out ‘roadside robbery gone wrong’. I don’t know what the fuck happened here, but you should be good.” He mussed Sombra’s hair on the way back to his car. “I’ll see you later.”

Standing in the dark with Amélie, Sombra jumped when she felt something pressed against her hands. It was just the helmet.

“Let’s go.”

Sombra nodded in agreement and climbed onto the bike behind Amélie.

-

Amélie took them back to her apartment. She didn’t bother turning on any lights as she led Sombra to her room. She let go of Sombra’s hand and sat on her bed.

Sombra stood in front of Amélie, looking down at the other woman as her heart pounded in her chest. She desperately tried to keep her face from giving away the flurry of feelings rushing through her system as everything that happened that day came roaring through her thoughts.

Amélie stayed completely still, looking up at Sombra with an unreadable expression.

Sombra felt cool fingers at her sides, wondering how long she’d been preoccupied with their staring contest to notice the asking touch. She climbed into Amélie’s lap, leaning down to kiss her. The reaction was instant.

Amélie lifted Sombra’s shirt further up until Sombra had to pull away to take off the offending piece of clothing. Her bra followed soon after.

A soft chuckle left Sombra’s lips when Amélie picked her up and laid her on the bed. All the fear Sombra felt earlier couldn’t compare to the way Amélie kissed the scar on her stomach not even half an hour after she killed the guy she didn’t even know the name of. She’d have to ask about that later.

 

 


	6. Small Details

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy :)
> 
> as always, so many thanks to my beta metalwarrior22

Sombra woke up on her back, sleepy eyes blinking towards the ceiling of Amélie’s apartment. The day before was a shitshow. Well, sort of. It worked out like Amélie said it would. The clearest indicator being that Sombra was still alive. The whole ordeal with Maximilien and his unsettling doubles didn’t sit well with her. Sombra could see a little on why Amélie hated him. The guy radiated creepy.

Warm lips mumbled something into Sombra’s shoulder. Amélie shifted in her sleep, pulling Sombra closer to her.

Sombra grinned. After the shitshow was a completely different story. Amélie showed Sombra how grateful she was for all of Sombra’s help. She learned just how generous Amélie could be. Learned it so well that her thank-yous came out as a breathless uttering of Amélie’s name. Again and again.

Starvation was the only thing persuading Sombra to get out of bed. That and she would have pissed herself if she still refused to leave. Trying her best to not move Amélie much, Sombra managed to shimmy her way out of bed. She couldn’t help the grin that took over her face when Amélie moved to curl up in the spot she was in.

The first thing she did when she got into the bathroom was gawk at the gross eye gunk stuck on her lashes. Forgot to take out her contacts. Sombra turned right back around and nabbed her spare pair of glasses from the mess of clothes on the floor and ran back into the bathroom. Unable to hold it in anymore, Sombra decided to multitask, taking out her contacts as she sat on the toilet.

Relieved and eye gunk free, Sombra hopped in the shower. She came out of the steaming bathroom with foggy glasses and a towel around her neck to catch any stray droplets that shook out of her hair. Not wanting to wake Amélie up, Sombra raided Amélie’s dresser in the dark. She found a white button-down shirt. A little big but comfortable enough.

Sombra closed the bedroom door quietly behind her. She got to the kitchen and made a beeline for the fridge. The first thing that grabbed her attention was the sheer emptiness. A huge fridge with only a carton of eggs, some milk that was going to expire in two weeks, and butter. Out of curiosity, Sombra opened the freezer. Packed full. Bread, meat, vegetables, containers of sauce, and even fruit. They were all separated by portions in freezer bags.

“Must not come here much.” Admittedly, the whole idea was smart. Amélie didn’t have to worry about her food going bad. If not for the fact that Sombra had two people regularly eating her food, she would have taken notes.

The shower sounded in the background. Sombra wasn’t sure if Amélie wanted to make something when she got out so she decided to find something to stave off her hunger in the meantime. Sombra shut the freezer door and went to explore through the cabinets. Amélie had to have something quick to eat.

Cookies. Sugar wafers, chocolate chip, marshmallow, fudge, shortbread, fruit-filled, and cream filled. It was like Amélie went down the snack food aisle and dragged an armful of the shelf into her cart. God that was so damn cute. Sombra grabbed a package of fudge cookies and went back to the fridge to pour herself a glass of milk.  

Sombra settled by the counter, leaning against it as she dunked her cookie into the milk. She got about two bites into her cookie when she felt a pair of hands settle on her waist. Warm breath tickled her ear.

“You really are cute with the glasses on.” Amélie reached forward and grabbed a cookie over Sombra’s shoulder. She backed away, biting away at her cookie as she went to search the fridge.

Sombra moved her spot on against the counter until she could get a clear view of Amélie. The only three things in the fridge had been taken out, along with some seasoning she couldn’t quite see. Shrugging her shoulders, Sombra downed the rest of her milk and closed the cookie package. She would find out what seasoning it was soon enough.

“Did you check your email?”

Honestly, Sombra didn’t even know where her phone was. “Nope.”

Amélie smirked. “You should.” She cracked a couple of eggs into a bowl and didn’t make anymore mentions about it.

Curiosity got the best of Sombra. She slid out of the kitchen and basically sprinted back to Amélie’s room to search for her phone. It had found a home on a book on the other side of the room. Must have flown out of her pants when they were tossed blindly in the dark.

Clicking straight into her work email, Sombra noticed the unread message marked as URGENT. A quick read had her biting back a smile. Apparently, a _valued_ member of Talon was found dead on the side of the road last night. Police reports suggested it was an attempted carjacking that ended violently. A bullet retrieved from the scene matched the same type used in a series of cases that were older and still under investigation. The rest of the email basically warned people to take more precautions in their duties.

They were off the hook.

Excitement shook throughout Sombra’s skin. They fucking got away with it.

Sombra walked back to the kitchen in a blissful haze. She finally sat down on a stool by the counter with a giant smile smeared across her face. A steaming bowl of the fanciest scrambled eggs Sombra had ever seen appeared in front of her. Amélie stood on the other side of the counter, her grin matching Sombra’s.

“They don’t know it was us.”

Amélie nodded, trying and failing to contain her laughter. “His brothers probably miss him.”

“Brothers?”

Taking a bite out of her food, Amélie managed to school her face before replying. “Clone 1 and clone 2.”

Sombra was mid-chew when Amélie said that. She tried desperately to keep her food down but all she managed to do was choke on both her food and her laugh. “Fuck Amélie, I’m trying to eat, not die.”

A smirk. “I bet that’s what our dear friend was trying to do too.”

Sombra put her fork down and covered her face. If Amélie was going to keep that up, there was no point in eating. “So damn ruthless.” Of course, she loved all of it. The way Amélie _radiated_ happiness. Even if it revolved around some guy Sombra killed last night. “You know how attractive that is?”

“I can guess.” Amélie’s fingers fiddled with the collar of Sombra’s shirt. Well, the one she borrowed.

Sombra dropped her hands and noticed how Amélie’s eyes stayed glued to the shirt. “I just found something quick to put on.”

Amélie nodded to show that she was listening but other than that, she continued her little examination in silence. A light touch ran down the length of the buttons until Amélie’s hand hit the counter. She let go and went back to eating. “You can keep it.”

By the way Amélie’s eyes kept flitting back to the shirt as she ate, Sombra had her doubts about the offer. “You sure?”

“It’s not mine.”

A fling. An ex. The possibilities were endless. The only conclusion Sombra could make was that Amélie didn’t care for the memories associated with the piece of clothing. Which, that was a win in Sombra’s book. She liked the shirt. “Terrible ex?”

Amélie shook her head and smiled into her eggs. Her eyes watered, eyelashes barely doing their job at keeping the tears at bay. “No.”

Quick fingers were already at the buttons, undoing each one in a blur of motion. “Like hell I’m keeping it if you’re going to cry over it.” Shaking hands stopped her from continuing.

“I accidentally packed it. Force of habit. Please, keep it. I have ten others just like it.”

Ten others just like it. Sombra let go of the next button in her grip as ice streamed through her blood. She knew exactly what that meant. It made the case against Maximilien that much clearer. Amélie lost someone she loved. And it was Maximilien’s fault. “I… I can’t. You have ten more but you won’t have this one.”

Amélie smiled. “Please, keep it just in case.”

In case of what? “What do you mean?”

Amélie stared down at the floor and sighed. She went back to smiling moments later, steady fingers buttoning the shirt again. “Just in case.”

Far from an answer. Sombra grabbed Amélie’s hands and waited for Amélie to look at her. “Okay. I’ll keep it, just in case.” She stumbled forward, feeling a tear splash against her cheek and trembling lips capturing her own.

-

As soon as they got back to base, Sombra sped her way to her room where she dumped her clothes from last night and changed into her workout gear. Everything was exactly as she left it. The half-full cup of water she had forgotten about was still on her dresser. One drawer was left slightly agape from when she thought she closed it but never did. Even the way her pillow was only half covered with the pillowcase she slept with stayed the same. Except for the fact that her sheets were pulled tight, something she never did. Sombra sighed and rolled her eyes before leaving. She’d have to take care of that problem later.

“I know, I know-“

“You’re late-”

“I was literally about to say that.” The doors shut closed behind Sombra. She walked onto the mats, trying not to laugh at Gabriel’s displeased expression.

“What’s the excuse this time?”

“Oh, you know. The usual. Scared shitless that some fucker I didn’t know pointed a gun at me. Amélie was so kind as to help me forget about that.”

Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows.

“We had sex, Gabe.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t need to hea-”

“A lot of sex.”

“Okay, I get-”

“Kept me up all night to the point where I’m ready to forgive the creepy clone guy for wanting to shoot me.” Sombra balled her hand into a fist and closed her eyes. She was being dramatic. But that was the point. “I feel so fucking good Gabe.”

“Stop. Just stop.”

“You sure? I can keep going.”

“Positive.”

Sombra grinned. “What’s new for today?”

“Come at me.”

“That’s it?”

“We’ll play it by ear. All you have to do is knock me over.”

Sombra crossed her arms. That was obviously a trap. “You know that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.”

Gabriel shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

An hour. A whole hour of Gabriel side-stepping most of Sombra’s advances or putting up a shit ton of resistance. Each failed attempt came with its own debriefing. A detail description of what happened and what Sombra did wrong.

Sombra was pissed. A whole hour and she didn’t get to knock him over once. And now he was calling it quits for the day.

“Next time maybe.”

Amélie came walking through the doors. Sombra noticed Gabriel stopped to look her way. A chance.

“Uh-huh. Next time.” On her way towards Amélie, Sombra brushed past Gabriel and gave him a hard kick to the back of the knee. She heard a big weight drop to the mats. Laughing, she jogged the rest of the way towards Amélie and grabbed her hand.

Sombra looked behind to see Gabriel glaring daggers her way. She lifted her linked hand and grinned. “Same time tomorrow Gabe.”

Out in the hallway towards the shooting range, Sombra half expected Amélie to drop her hand. They weren’t exactly dating, despite what happened last night and that morning. The surprise came when Amélie held on.

Amélie never once let go of Sombra’s hand. Not even when Sombra stopped in front of the shooting range and covered her eyes with her free hand, embarrassed that she forgot her gun, again. She only shrugged and led them back to Sombra’s room to get it, saying that there was no rush. When they got to the shooting range, again, that’s when Amélie finally let go.

“I just want you to keep shooting,” said Amélie.

“That’s it?”

“Get used to shooting and reloading. Like you’ve been doing it your whole life. No hesitation, even if you miss.”

“What, shoot first, ask questions later?” Sombra was joking but the serious look on Amélie’s face subdued the urge to laugh.

“I want you to be safe.”

That was sweet. Checking her gun, Sombra grinned to herself and said as much. From the corner of her eye, Sombra saw the instant blush on Amélie’s face. She finally got to laugh when Amélie told her to, “just shoot.”

-

Showered and exhausted, Sombra groaned to herself when she plopped down on her bed. She still had one more thing to do before she could take a nap. Sombra grabbed a fistful of her sheets and tore them off the bed. Lifting the mattress, she frowned. Nothing. Yet. Determined fingers ran over every inch of the mattress until they found a small incision. She dug into it and pulled out a curious little thing. Sombra sighed again. They fucking bugged her room.

“This is gonna take hours.” She crushed the little transmitter in two and tossed it in her small waste bin.

It really did take hours.

Sombra had thoroughly trashed her room, checking every single nook and cranny. She found a bug in her light fixture, one of her drawers, in her damn pillow, beneath her dresser, and even in a spot drilled into the wall hidden by a fake plant she put in her room for atmosphere.

Despite finding so many bugs, Sombra still wasn’t sure she had gotten them all. She didn’t have the equipment needed to find out.

A knock on the door distracted Sombra from her pissed off bug hunt. Amélie came in after Sombra said the door was open.

Amélie looked around the room with confusion. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, closing the door with the tip of her shoe. “What’s going on?”

“Bug problem.” Sombra held up her latest find from her spot on the floor.

Amélie made an ‘oh’ noise and kept quiet, visibly wracking her brain for something else to say. Or maybe she was trying to work up some courage, judging by the quiet whispering Sombra couldn’t hear.

“I know you like dates.”

A pleasant surprise. “I do.” Sombra grinned, already liking where this conversation was going.

“So,” Amélie rubbed at the back of her neck, nervousness taking over, “…do you?”

She couldn’t help it. Sombra really couldn’t keep herself from laughing. “I already told you that I do.”

“You know what I meant to say.” Amélie had her face covered, keenly aware of her fuck-up.

Sombra played it dumb. “No,” another laugh, “I really don’t.”

“Sombra,” Amélie pinched the bridge of her nose, “do you want to go on a date? With me.” The last part was tacked on like it wasn’t obvious to begin with.

The effort was more than enough to stop the laughter. Sombra found it incredibly endearing that Amélie was putting in that much effort despite how nervous she appeared. “I’d love to.” Her answer alone was enough. Just to see that complete change in demeanor. The way Amélie’s face lit up.

Amélie cleared her throat. “Is tonight okay?”

A smirk. “You mean right now?”

To her credit, Amélie didn’t even try to cover up her intentions. “Yes.”

Getting up from the floor, Sombra went to her dresser and rummaged around for something better to wear. She was currently in her matching cat-print sleep set. The bug problem kept her from taking the nap she wanted. “I just need a minute to get decent.”

Amélie nodded, keeping quiet. She stayed put in her spot by the door and kept busy by messing with her own hands. Too cute.

After Sombra changed clothes, they went outside and walked past Amélie’s bike.

“We walking there?”

“I was thinking we could walk around to find a place for dinner. I mean, if you hadn’t eaten yet.”

A total 180 from their last date. Granted, Sombra had basically demanded a good time in exchange for her commitment to a life-threatening plan. Amélie hadn’t seemed thrilled at the prospect of it but she ended up having a good time. Now? Now that Amélie _wanted_ to go on a date? She was the cutest nervous wreck.

“You just don’t know where to eat.”

Amélie smiled. “I really don’t.”

“There’s a place down the street I like.”

Visible relief flooded Amélie’s face. “It already sounds better than what I had planned.”

When they got to the restaurant, Amélie was disappointed that all the tables were filled. That should have been it. Except that Amélie went back inside and tried to persuade the host to find them a table. The situation escalated when yelling got thrown into the mix.

Sombra stood amused off to the side of Amélie, watching Amélie and the host exchanging a fast-paced argument in Spanish. It got to the point where Amélie suddenly stopped speaking. They really could have gone somewhere else but Sombra was invested in the outcome.

Amélie had taken out her wallet and started pulling out big bills. “Llévanos a nuestra mesa.” She folded the giant wad of cash and put it in the man’s front jacket pocket.

Five minutes later a couple of teenagers were yelling at the host instead, complaining that they weren’t ready to leave yet. The man waved them off and invited Amélie and Sombra inside. He sat them down at a hastily cleaned table and handed them menus. He left with their drink orders.

“Bribery huh? Didn’t think you were the type.”

“You said you liked this place.”

Sombra laughed. “I do, I do. I’m flattered that you’d bribe that guy for me.” Sombra shrugged. “It would have been funny though if you got us kicked out.”

Amélie smiled. “Do you want me to try?”

“Maybe after the food.”

Their drinks came quickly, a bottle of wine split between them. Their server left again with their food order. Amélie grabbed her chair and moved it to sit beside Sombra. Leaning in close she spoke while gesturing to the big table on the other side of the room.

“What do think about them?”

Sombra took a sip of her wine, putting the glass down delicately. “International assassins.”

“The whole family?”

“Yes, down to the baby even.” That had Amélie laughing.

“I was thinking that maybe they didn’t pay their taxes.”

“Oh, they totally don’t pay taxes. Cause they’re international assassins.”

Amélie laughed again. “But they don’t look the type.”

Sombra faced Amélie with a grin. “And what do assassins look like?”

“They,” Amélie rolled her eyes when Sombra mentioned that she didn’t look like an assassin, “the baby at least can’t be an assassin.”

“No problem. She’s the heiress to the assassin family empire. So, she _will_ be an assassin.”

“And what if she wants to be an accountant instead?”

Sombra raised her eyebrows. “So, I’m trying to run the assassin angle here and you’re trying to tell me she’s got a boring accounting job.”

“She _will_ have a boring accounting job. Still a baby.”

Sombra reached for another sip of her drink and tipped her glass over, hurriedly reaching for it before it could spill. It didn’t work out as planned. She caught the glass but ended up tossing the wine onto the floor with the momentum from her quick reflexes. “Shit.” Sombra grabbed her cloth napkin and tossed it over the wine, wiping it up with her foot as their waiter approached with their food.

The waiter looked down at his shoes after setting their plates down. He lifted one foot and slowly wiped away the wine he stepped in on the napkin Sombra threw on the floor. He bent down and picked up the napkin, taking the time to wipe up the rest of the mess.

Sombra watched the waiter leave and waited. She laughed as soon as he was out of sight. “I don’t think I could look that man in the eye anymore.”

Amélie leaned over with a devious spark in her eyes. “Careful, he might be an assassin.”

“Guess I’ll have to shoot him later.” Sombra patted a spot covered by her shirt.

“You brought it?”

“Yeah, you said to keep it on me.”

For whatever reason, Amélie was immensely pleased with Sombra’s reply. There was no wiping the grin that spread across her lips. Even throughout the meal, it never faltered. That was until Sombra brought up Maximilien.

“I know I probably should save this for when we’re not on a date but I really have to know, what’s the deal with Maximilien? Why’s he so fucking creepy?”

Amélie pushed her plate aside as a frown formed. “He’s obsessed with me. He’ll even brag about it too, that I’m his perfect weapon.”

The explanation started off a thousand degrees of shady. “He’s got a thing for you?”

Amélie shook her head. “I don’t think it’s that. At least, he’s never come on to me. I think it’s more of a control type thing,” she shrugged, “which is just as bad.”

“So, what, you’re his favorite assassin?”

Amélie nodded. “He’ll give me anything I want, so long as I keep killing for him.”

The stupid plan Amélie came up with suddenly made a lot of sense. “And you…”

“I told him I wanted you.”

Sombra pushed away her plate as well and rested her chin on her hand. She leaned in closer to Amélie, keenly aware of how Amélie stiffened. “And do you?”

“Do I what?” Amélie played the same game Sombra started earlier.

Sombra wasn’t afraid to ask. “Do you want me?”

Amélie bit her bottom lip. She studied their empty wine bottle with fake interest. “I wouldn’t mind seeing where this goes.”

For now, that was all Sombra needed to know. “Then let’s get out of here.”

They left the restaurant in a hurry, dropping a pile of cash on the table on their way out.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading guys :)


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